The Gryffindor Nightmare
by Lillith Nocturne
Summary: Sabine, the nerdy 'Gryffindor Nightmare', only has two friends until she and the Marauders get to know one another. Lily and Snape are protesting, the Marauders have accepted her, and now she has feelings for someone? Sirius Black / OC MWPP
1. One long, strange, day in October

**_A/N: I know the first chapter is really long and all, but bear with me. I'm still kind of getting a feel for the site. This is the first story I've ever added here. I'm all for the concrit, so send away. I take concrit well as long as it's actually constructive. If anyone wanted to beta for me, that would be great, too. Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoy it. Remember... I thrive on concrit. Have I mentioned that?_**

Sabine Alptraum frowned at her reflection in the mirror of the Gryffindor's girl's lavatory. Her dull green eyes stared critically back at her from behind her black rimmed glasses and her thin lips parted slightly as she let out an annoyed sigh. Her hair was doing everything but cooperating with her wishes. Lily, her inadvertent best friend, smiled a weak and apologetic smile behind her and patted her on the back. She at least knew it wasn't out of pity but of understanding what it felt like to be dissatisfied with ones own appearance. Sabine ruffled her hair and sighed heavily once more.

"Would you happen to know any charms at all that could tame this animal perched atop my head?" Sabine asked, trying to keep the desperation from her voice. Lily raised her wand nervously. "Don't…" she said, raising her hands in defeat. "Not if you look that nervous about it." She chuckled.

"Sorry." Lily shrugged then chuckled. "You'd think by forth year you'd have a better idea of how to control that mop." She said playfully. Sabine stuck her tongue out at Lily in the reflection.

"Alright, what's the worst that could happen, right?" she sighed reluctantly. "Madam Pomfrey isn't too far away. If you catch me on fire, it's my own fault. Shoot, Lil." Lily raised her wand once again. With a flourish and a simple charm, Sabine's hair took on a more pleasant, but not exactly fantastic style. Both sets of eyes widened in surprise. "Huh, looks better than it did."

"Perhaps you should just get some muggle products for it." Lily suggested. Sabine nodded. Being muggle born, she knew that while none could do the miracles that magic could, they were sufficient tools until one was a bit more learned in the magical methods.

"I'll have my brother owl me some mousse and hair spray." Sabine snorted at the thought of sending her brother an owl requesting hair products. "He'll just love having an owl landing on his window ledge with a note asking for hair spray. I'll never hear the end of that on Christmas." Lily laughed and nodded understandingly.

"You should hear my mother. I owled her for money for a dress and at Christmas she asked if owls ever stole money like muggle post men sometimes did." She rolled her eyes. "It can be tedious being a witch in a muggle family." Sabine nodded in agreement, still surveying her reflection. She had on a pair of baggy black slacks that were almost too wrinkled. Her white dress shirt was too big so as to hide her larger build. The tie she wore was just as wrinkled as everything else she was wearing. She sighed and let her shoulders slump.

"Know any wrinkle reduction charms?" she asked, a sheepish grin curling across her face. Lily rolled her eyes, unable to hide the smirk on her face as she flourished her wand once again.

"Why do you always wear such baggy things?" she asked carefully, hoping that it wasn't a sore subject. She hadn't ever seen Sabine in anything that showed her figure. Lily knew that she wasn't exactly ecstatic with it but it wasn't a bad figure. Though Sabine was a bit thicker around the middle than most girls, she was still a pretty girl. Sabine exhaled and shook her head.

"You would, too, if you had wide hips and a gut like me." She explained with a shrug. Lily made to protest. "Before you respond to that, when was the last time a guy asked me on a date to Hogsmeade?" Lily stuttered, trying to find the right response.

"W-well…" she started, looking panicked now for a response. Sabine's eyebrows rose and she placed her hands on her hips, cocking them to the side expectantly. Lily remained silent. She knew Sabine was pretty, even if that wasn't a general consensus. She sighed in defeat and pulled her fingers through Sabine's curly mop with a look of slight jealousy.

"Don't give me that look; you wouldn't want this hair if you had it." Sabine laughed, pulling it back into a loose pony tail and slipping a maroon and gold headband in. "Come on, it's time for breakfast. James Potter shall be waiting with baited breath to see his darling redheaded firecracker." She laughed. Lily rolled her eyes and grumbled.

"I despise that incessantly annoying little toerag." She whined. Sabine shrugged.

"I dunno, Lil, me thinks thou protest too much." Sabine joked, nudging Lily as the descended the stairs. There on the couch sat the four Marauders boys, chatting animatedly about a trick they'd just played on a second year. Lily froze for a second before trying to move inconspicuously by the couch. Sabine grinned evilly. "Wait for me, Lil, don't run so fast." She called out. Lily shot her a mutinous look as James shot from the couch toward Lily. Sirius, Remus, Peter and Sabine were grinning at the interaction.

"Good morning, Lily." James beamed, ears flushing red. Lily narrowed her eyes. "D'you want me to carry your books for you?"

"No, James, thank you." She said flatly, scowling at Sabine. "Come on, Sabine, it's time for breakfast. I promised Sev that we'd meet him outside afterward."

"Right, of course, right behind you, Lil." Sabine smiled victoriously. As soon as they stepped through the painting Lily slugged her in the arm.

"You evil git, that was so mean!" Lily spat, pouting heavily. Sabine couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry, Lil." She apologized. "It's just so cute that he likes you so much." Lily crossed her arms. "Must be nice to have such a sought after admirer." She nudged her. Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Not really." She said curtly, heading toward the Great Hall. "He's always asking me out and insulting my friends. You've seen how he treats Severus and I know you've been on the receiving end of a few unkind comments." Lily added gravely, shaking her head. "Who would want to be with a guy like that?"

"Many girls that haven't got as much sense as you?" Sabine offered, shrugging in fake indifference. She hadn't ever really thought James was so bad, just a bit misguided. Like most guys, Sabine felt that James was just acting how he thought he should so as to keep his tediously sought after cool status. Having tried to be cool herself and never making it, Sabine had settled into the mysteriousness of being 'that weird fat girl'. However, she knew Lily and James could probably compliment one another perfectly. They finally entered the Great Hall and found an empty area at the Gryffindor table. Sabine grabbed biscuit and some sausage links and watched in hidden jealousy as Lily shoveled food onto her plate. Lily caught the look on her face and promptly stopped shoveling food onto her plate, looking suddenly less hungry than she was before. "Screw it, I'm hungry." Sabine sighed in defeat, grabbing some eggs, another biscuit, and some more sausages. Lily gave her an encouraging look and felt better that Sabine wasn't going to let what others thought affect her confidence or self image.

"There ya go, girly." Lily beamed, shoveling eggs into her mouth. This was a once a month ritual for the two of them, being that they often experienced PMS at basically the same time. After a solid half an hour of animated chatting and shoveling down food, the two finally stood and stretched, heading toward the Slytherin table. Severus's eyes lit up at the sight of them and he rushed toward them, looking excited to get away from the other students.

"Your late, girls." He sang, trying to hide the smirk that tried to play on his lips. Sabine grinned and decided not to mention the Marauders and James launching himself from the couch to help Lily simple because she didn't feel like spending an entire afternoon bashing on four guys she didn't really know too well. Lily, however, seemed to enjoy that pastime quite a bit.

"Sabine decided it would be humorous to send James Potter at me, in all his bumbling glory." Lily sneered at Sabine, who was watching as Severus turned a rather aggravated shade of pink. She sighed and prepared for the bashing that would ensue.

"Those toad brained buffoons…" he said quietly. "Let's go on outside, anything to spend the day outside these walls and away from all these idiots." He offered, not really waiting for a response. Lily and Sabine nodded, following him out, each hoping for different reasons that they could manage to avoid the famed band of Marauders.

"Oi, Snivellus!" Sirius Black's voice called from behind them. Sabine rolled her eyes as she saw Lily's fists clench tight. Severus froze in his tracks and Sabine felt infinitely horrible that he would most likely be experiencing some kind of torture very soon. "Where are we headed today, Snivellus?" he chuckled menacingly. James was glaring at Severus while Peter and Remus looked rather indifferent, on the verge of discomfort. Severus turned slowly, a glint of panic in his eyes as he narrowed them as menacingly as he could.

"Leave me alone, Black." He drawled, sneering at him. Sirius's eyebrows rose in mock surprise. "What I and my friends do is no concern to you." Sabine decided to interject, trying her best to be the voice of reason.

"Couldn't you guys just allow us a little peace?" she asked almost pleadingly, hoping that today might be a calm day.

"Ha, you think you'll get any peace with Snivellus?" he asked, smiling menacingly at her. She cocked an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips in her signature stance that said 'Do you really feel so brave as to cross me?' Sirius's smile faded a little and the other Marauders looked a little unsure. One benefit, Sabine thought to herself, of remaining the mysterious weirdo was that people weren't entirely sure what you were capable of.

"Unless you'd like to be hexed into next Tuesday, Black, I suggest you leave us alone." Lily's voice came, edged in anger and annoyance. Sirius's eyes narrowed once again. He wasn't quite so frightened of Lily and now Sabine was sure she'd have to at least fire off one hex now that Lily had stepped in. The Marauder's reached quickly for their wands frantically. Sabine raised hers.

"Avis!" she said quickly, breathing a quick sigh of relief when the birds shot from the tip of her wand. "Oppugno!" she added quickly, quite satisfied when the birds swept like dive bombers at the four shouting heads of the boys. She heard Severus and Lily chuckle in appreciation.

"We should probably get out of here before the birds stop attacking." Lily laughed, beaming at Sabine as a girlish scream escaped from James, who had taken to running back toward the Great Hall. "Where did you learn that one?" Lily finally asked as they seated themselves under a tree by the lake. Severus was watching the giant squid raise a tentacle lazily into the air before he turned his attention to Sabine in waiting.

"I heard Molly Prewett use it on Arthur Weasley once when he got a bit too friendly in the Common Room." She shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "If it was effective enough to get a horny guy to stop I thought it would be quite sufficient for use on those lovely Marauder boys."

"Well done, Sabine." Severus smiled. She shrugged. "Thank you, by the way, for defending me."

"No trouble at all, Sev. You've defended me many times." Sabine smiled back, patting him on the shoulder. Her brows furrowed as the smile faded from his face completely. She turned quickly to see the Marauders approaching, looking a bit more bloodied than before. She felt her eyebrow cock again and she sighed. "You'd think those thick skulled baboons would learn something, anything at all." She said, shaking her head and standing, wand at the ready. "I'll disarm Black, Severus, you disarm Remus, Lily, disarm James because Peter isn't so much a threat as they are. Lily, you're fastest with a wand, once you do James, disarm Peter, okay?" she stated quickly and quietly. Lily and Severus gave a curt nod, never taking their eyes off the Marauders as they approached the tree. Once they'd stepped under the long tendril branches of the Weeping Willow, looking scraped and angry, their eyes went wide.

"Expelliarmus!" the three shouted together.

"Expelliarmus!" Lily called again, satisfied in seeing Peter's wand fly off to his left. The boys blinked rapidly, looking suddenly very panicked.

"We asked you nicely to leave us alone." Severus started. Sirius and James's eyes narrowed. Sabine sighed in frustration.

"All I want is a little peace but you bumbling gits won't take a damn day off." She grumbled. "If we allow you to regain possession of those twigs you fools call wands, will you promise to leave us in peace or will you continue being dunderheaded buffoons?" she snapped.

"Allow us?!" Sirius yelped, forgetting that he was being held at wand-point. Sabine took a step closer, almost touching the tip of his nose with her wand. He gulped audibly and then sighed in defeat. "A one day truce?"

"One day is all I ask." Sabine said levelly, glancing around at the other three. They considered it silently, none looking as though they might protest. Sirius raised his hands to show agreement, nodding slowly and taking a few steps back. "Should you decide to renege on this, I'd like you to know that I'm proficient in both the Bat-Bogey and the Furnunculus, as is Lily and she's a hell of a lot faster than I am." Sabine drawled warningly. The Marauder's wordlessly gathered their wands and scurried away, casting mutinous looks back at their attackers. Sabine breathed a sigh of relief, dropping back to her seat on the ground.

"Do you really know those charms? Because I haven't the slightest idea what the hell Furnunculus is." Lily chuckled, looking relieved.

"It covers the target in painful exploding boils." She explained with a wry smile. "And yes, I am quite good at them. About the only charms I'm very good at are the mildly defensive irritating ones." Sabine laughed.

"You should teach us those two, they sound quite useful." Severus smiled, pulling his wand from under his robes again. After two hours outside, Sabine had successfully taught them both the charms, and Finite Incantatem, which she had learned from Dumbledore after having hexed herself a few times practicing.

Lily sighed heavily, enjoying the peaceful silence as she and her friends watched the surface of the lake being broken occasionally by the enormous tentacles of the giant squid. Sabine smiled deeply as she watched Severus glancing as inconspicuously at Lily as he could manage. He caught Sabine looking at him and smiled sheepishly. Sabine's stomach rumbled loud a few minutes later and she laughed.

"Anyone else hungry?" she asked, making to stand. Lily and Severus shook their heads in the negative, never taking their eyes off the water. Severus looked up at her pleadingly for a second as if to say he wanted time alone. Sabine grinned as her eyebrows rose and she nodded quickly. "See you guys later." She sang, pushing through the draping branches and shoving her hands into her pockets. She trudged on toward the castle, feeling her stomach rumble again but remaining cautious of her surroundings. She strolled into the castle and headed quickly toward the Great Hall, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table and surveying her options. She filled a plate with various items and began to eat, not paying attention to what was going on around her anymore until she heard someone purposely clear their throat beside her. She turned quickly to see James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew surrounding her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Hello, Alptraum, where'd your friends go?" Sirius asked, looking as though he was having a little trouble holding off on hexing her.

"I left them alone." She smirked, casting a sideways glance at James who seemed absolutely incensed by her simple answer. "Can I help you Black?" He lifted his chin and looked her over appraisingly.

"We wanted to apologize." He said quickly and quietly. Her eyebrows rose.

"I accept." She said flatly, a bit more cautious as she began eating again. After a few moments she looked stopped and noticed that they were staring at her in anticipation. "Yes?"

"Well, you owe us apologies, too!" James spat, appalled by her behavior.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sabine mused sarcastically, smiling around at them then rolling her eyes.

"We never really meant to get you or Lily involved." Remus said reasonably. "You shouldn't defend him the way you do."

"Severus?" she asked in surprise. "So you're saying that simply because you boys, who by the way have always treated me with the utmost respect, are asking me not to defend one of my best friends that I shouldn't?" she asked, anger edging into her voice slowly. James sighed heavily.

"He's such a slimy goon!" he spat defensively. "He doesn't deserve Lily."

"Listen, Potter," Sabine started, rolling her eyes. "We agreed that you would give Lily, Severus and I a day of peace, did we not?" they all nodded reluctantly. "Alright, well forcing me to listen to your agonizingly self-centered plight about how Lily doesn't love you isn't what I would call a day of peace. I will, however, leave you with one bit of advice: if you really want Lily to even react indifferently toward you, you shouldn't be such a bratty, sniveling little twat to her friends." She concluded with her voice a little louder than she had wanted it to be. He looked shocked then suddenly offended.

"I've never been a sniveling twat to you!" he shouted, standing quickly in a huff and nearly knocking the bench over with him.

"Oh, no?" she mused challengingly, hands on her hips as she took on her signature stance.

"No, in fact I think I've been quite nice to you." He challenged. She scoffed.

"I can remember once when you called me an ignorant cow in class, another when you turned my hair purple, and a third where, when I told you I wouldn't help you with Lily, you caught my robes on fire." She shot back at him. He shrunk back, cringing looking as though he actually hadn't remembered doing those things. Sabine narrowed her eyes, not wanting to let all her tears and anger flow in front of a group. She was so very tired of dealing with all this and so very glad it was Saturday. The lump in her throat was becoming too much and she shook her head, looking away with a sigh. She laughed painfully, embarrassed to hear her voice crack a little. "What does it matter? If you go find Lily and Severus and I find out about it, James, pleasant things will not follow." She said as levelly as possible, never making eye contact again and heading off toward the girl's bathroom. She didn't want pity nor did she really feel like being open with the Marauders. Sabine locked herself in a stall and sighed heavily. "Merlin, I hate PMS."

After fifteen minutes, Sabine collected her scattered thoughts and washed her face. Happy to see her eyes weren't red, she marched from the bathroom as though nothing happened and headed toward the stairs and up to the painting of the fat lady.

"Hello, dear." The fat lady bowed, smiling pleasantly. "Enjoying the weekend?"

"Ah, it could be much better, but it is a weekend nonetheless." Sabine shrugged, smiling weakly. "Pumpkin Juice." She added with a wave as the painting swung open. Sabine stepped over the threshold, debating with herself on how to spend the rest of the day. Tomorrow, she'd be off the Hogsmeade, which she was happy about because it meant not having to plan a day around Severus swooning over Lily and Lily complaining on to the pointing of droning about 'those treacherous Marauders'. The common room was empty, which made it feel immensely more welcoming. "Wizards Chess, a good book, or a nap?" she asked herself. Wizards chess was out immediately because she didn't feel like playing alone and she wasn't tired enough for a nap. She sighed and snatched Edward Bulwer-Lytton's _Richelieu_ from the shelves. No sooner than she had opened her book as she sat on the couch, did she hear the painting creak open and heard familiar voices. She leaned her head back and let out an exasperated groan.

"Bad day?" Sirius asked innocently as he flopped heavily next to her on the couch. She shot him a glare and returned to her book. "We really are all sorry about being so mean to you. I suppose we kind of lose sight of who happens to be innocent sometimes." He smiled sheepishly. Sabine shot another glare, this one a bit weaker than the last, over the edge of her book.

"We're gits, we know, you can tell us out loud." Remus pursued, shooting a sheepish grin her way. She fought to keep the edges of her lips from curling. "I believe she might be fighting a smile." He chuckled.

"Ah, see, we must not be so horrible if she could forgive us that quickly." James laughed. Sabine smirked and shook her head, closing her book. "There's that lovely smile."

"Lovely smile?" she asked skeptically. "Don't push it, I'm still not going to help you with Lily." She added.

"Fair enough." He said calmly. "We'd just like to make amends." Sabine eyed them all skeptically, finally extending her hand to shake his. "Friends?" he asked as he took her hand. She nodded.

"Friends." She sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be received well by Lily. "I always knew you gits were just a bit misguided anyway." She chuckled. They laughed agreeably, settling in comfortably around Sabine, who had reopened her book to start reading again. She noticed someone getting closer and closer to her and looked over her shoulder to see Sirius reading along. "May I help you, Black?"

"Are you reading a play?" he asked incredulously, looking from the book to her eyes. She blinked a few times.

"No, I'm reading the Communist Manifesto." She said flatly. "Yes, I'm reading a play, why?"

"I… you just don't seem like the literary type." He stammered a bit, careful what he said. Her eyebrows rose and she nodded slowly. "You seem more of a fighter to me, after that bird attack."

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword." Sabine said flatly, continuing her reading unfazed.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sirius asked with his nose scrunched in confusion. Sabine laughed and shook her head, looking to Remus for help.

"Come on, you're the smart one, help me out here." She chuckled. Remus laughed and shrugged.

"Never have been a man of plays or poetry." He smiled apologetically. Sirius was watching her expectantly and she finally sighed and resigned herself to explaining.

"It's right there if you just think about it." She shook her head. "Beneath the rule of a great man, words can accomplish much more than a battle can." Sirius scrunched his nose again and shook his head.

"What can a word do?" he asked, obviously not one for using words over his wand. She rolled her eyes.

"Words," she paused for effect, "made me not want to kill you Marauders anymore." She laughed. He considered this and nodded.

"I suppose, but a duel is always so much more fun." He grinned. She rolled her eyes. She knew he wasn't quite as dense as he was letting on. However, she supposed, being a man, words might be a harder concept to grasp than shooting a hex or swinging a sword.

"In the ways of ruling a country, duels are the last thing needed." She responded. He shrugged. "Merlin, it's been a while since I've had a conversation that meant anything at all." Sabine sighed heavily, curling her legs closer to her on the couch.

"War is a necessary evil, at some points." Remus stated, quite interested in this conversation. Sabine nodded.

"Oh absolutely, it's completely unrealistic to think that man will ever be without war." She agreed, "However, it should always be the last resort. Thus, the pen is mightier than the sword because the sword is the last choice of an intelligent leader." Sirius shrugged.

"Which is why I won't ever rule a country." He chuckled. Sabine patted him on the shoulder.

"You have the brains but they're currently too clouded with testosterone and ego." She smirked playfully.

"Pull thy beak from out my heart." He said, feigning hurt. Sabine's jaw dropped in shock.

"Nice one, Black." She smirked, slugging him in the arm playfully. "It's no wonder you're single." She added before sticking her tongue out at him. James laughed from his chair at the look of surprise on Sirius's face.

"He doesn't hear that much from girls." He said between giggles.

"No, I imagine lately most are asking if he has a date to the Halloween Ball next week." She scoffed, nudging him playfully. "To which he surely answers 'I'm going stag, ladies'." She laughed, trying to mock his voice. James, Remus and Peter laughed as Sirius stifled a sheepish grin.

"Are you going, Sabine?" Sirius shot. She laughed and shook her head in the negative. "No? Why not?" He asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

"For one, no one has asked." She said matter-of-factly, "And for two, because I look awkward and unnatural in dresses… or anything that actually fits, for that matter." She shrugged. "Lily's going with Severus." Sabine added as James opened his mouth. He closed it quickly and sighed, shaking his head in confusion as to how she knew what he was going to ask.

"Am I really that predictable?" he asked.

"Oh, come on." Remus laughed. "James, that was a stupid question."

"I suppose it was." James nodded thoughtfully. "But what's all this about you looking awkward and not going?" he asked, brows furrowed. Sabine rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Don't you start in on it, too." She warned. "I don't do dresses or make-up, I don't ever get invited and I do not go alone. I sit in the common room, get pissed on firewhiskey and sing Irish love songs until I fall asleep."

"Would you go if someone asked you?" Remus asked. Sabine considered it and shrugged.

"I suppose I might." She said honestly. "However, being that I don't really have guy friends, other than you guys now, and Severus, I don't foresee that happening." She chuckled, tapping Remus's arm lightly with the book and sighing heavily. "I'm content to listen to Lily and all the other girls gush on and on about it when they get back. They think I'm sleeping and I'm too drunk to move, it provides a nice balance."

"You should go with me." Sirius finally spoke up again. Sabine blinked a few times and eyed him curiously. She snorted and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'd just love to have the entire female population of Hogwarts hexing me and threatening my life." She affirmed sarcastically. "Being Bat-Bogied in the girls bathroom and beaten up by a crowd of squealing ditzes while I'm sleeping sounds like the way I'd like to spend the three months after the ball while everyone is shooting me evil glares." They laughed and nodded warily. "Why would you even ask me? I'm no piece of arm candy and there are better dates out there than the Gryffindor Nightmare who would mash your toes when dancing." She chuckled, shaking her head.

"Go with me, then." Remus shrugged. Sabine cocked her eyebrow and looked around.

"No." she said flatly. "I'm not going to the ball with a pity date."

"It isn't a pity date." Remus replied, looking her in the eye. She bit her lip and considered it, wondering whether they'd pursue this or if they'd lose interest in her eventually anyway. She shook her head reluctantly. "Come on. I don't have a date and I'd much rather go with someone I can talk to than some girl that's just going to swoon and giggle" he coaxed. "I can dance, I'm devilishly handsome, and I've been known to make a girl laugh." He sang, batting his eyelashes.

"Good old Remus." James laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I'll even let you dance with other guys without getting to jealous." He joked, nudging her. Sabine felt herself blush at all the kind attention she was getting and rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Alright, but just as friends and just because you've all shown me that you can, in fact, be nice people." She wagged her finger around at them.

"Oh, she's such a sweetheart, isn't she?" James feigned tears, leaning in and kissing her cheek. She hit him playfully with a pillow.

"Merlin, Lily is going to be so mad at me for this." She laughed. "And you, this had better not be some ploy to get closer to Lily." She wagged her finger warningly in his face. He blushed.

"You know, it started that way, but I actually like you." He said honestly. Sabine smiled.

"Yeah, I kind of figured you had an ulterior motive but I thought maybe you'd have given up long ago if you didn't like me." She chuckled. Sabine pulled a flask of firewhiskey from between the couch cushions, much to the surprise of the Marauders, and raised it into the air. "To new friends?" They nodded and she took a drink, passing it on. "Lily hates when I do that." She laughed.

"So, what colors dress are you getting so I can match, then?" Remus asked, hoisting himself over the edge of the couch to sit next to Sabine. Sabine looked around and laughed as the Marauders looked her like she had gone crazy. "What?"

"It just hit me that two hours ago, sitting where I am now would have been unbearable Hell to me." She laughed. Remus and James chuckled and Sirius and Peter nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, I'm not sure, any suggestions?"

"Well, what's your favorite color?" Remus shrugged. Sabine scrunched her nose in thought then gasped.

"Lets go in costume." She beamed with excitement. "I'll get a Victorian style dress and we can wear masks." She gushed, looking on the verge of squealing. Remus laughed and nodded.

"Sounds good to me, though I don't know many couples will be going in costume." He shrugged. "I don't understand why we would, myself."

"It's a muggle thing." Sabine shrugged. "On Halloween, muggles put on costumes and solicit their neighbors for candy. It's called trick-or-treating. If they don't give you candy, you toilet paper their trees and throw eggs at their house." She explained. They all laughed, looking impressed with the concept.

"Maybe I'll go as a pirate, then." Sirius chuckled. Sabine nodded in approval.

"I could definitely see you as a pirate." She smiled. "They're shaggy and rugged and often too romanticized." She added playfully. "So, Remus, blue suits you, we'll work our costume around blue." Sabine nodded happily.

"For someone that didn't like balls, you certainly are enthusiastic." Remus laughed as the painting creaked open. "We'll look around Hogsmeade tomorrow for costumes…" he trailed off, brows furrowing on confusion. Sabine sat bolt straight on the couch, just knowing it was Lily.

"Sabine? I went to the Great Hall looking for you but you weren't there." Lily called as she walked down the hall. "Severus and I decided we're going in cost-" Lily stopped dead in her tracks, mouth agape, staring at Sabine as she sat between Remus and Sirius on the couch. "Uh… what are you doing?" she asked in utter confusion.

"Well…" Sabine began. "Lily, I had a long talk with these guys and we're cleared the air a bit. We're friends now." She explained slowly. Remus, James, Sirius and Peter all nodded honestly and carefully. Lily's eyes narrowed slowly as her face flushed a deep red. "Don't get mad, please don't get mad." Sabine begged apologetically. "They really aren't so bad. I'm going to the ball now, with Remus." She pleaded as her friend glared at her scathingly.

"You traitorous wench." Lily whispered, striding past them quickly and running up the stairs. Sabine exhaled deeply and let her head fall back against the back of the couch. Remus and Sirius each put a comforting arm around her, looking apologetic.

"You should go talk to her." James suggested. "I'm really sorry; we don't want to break up your friendship."

"Don't be sorry, it isn't your fault." Sabine grumbled she stood. "A friend with her head out of her ass wouldn't have reacted that way." She mumbled as she headed toward the stairs. Climbing them quickly, she opened the girls dormitory door carefully, anticipating being pelted with something, and saw Lily sitting on her bed with her arms crossed so tight she thought they'd never unravel. "You know you have no right to be angry, right?" Sabine asked boldly. Lily's eyebrows rose accusingly. "Lily…"

"I know…" she said, relaxing finally. "I just hate them so much!" she spat. Sabine chuckled as she sat next to Lily on her bed.

"Then don't be their friend." She said simply. Lily cocked an eyebrow and shot her a glare. "But just because you hate them doesn't mean I have to. I find them quite nice. They apologized for the way they've treated me quite sincerely, they've been sitting there getting to know me, and Remus and I are going to the Halloween Ball as friends. They're decent, if easily sidetracked and misguided, boys."

"I can't forgive them for the way they've treated Severus." Lily warned.

"Neither can I, but they haven't asked me to, either." Sabine shrugged. "If I see them treating him that way, you'd better believe I'm going to defend him. Sev is one of my best friends and becoming their friend isn't going to change that." She promised, nudging Lily. "Friends?"

"Of course." Lily sighed, pulling Sabine into a hug. "So, Sev and I are going in costume to the ball, we're shopping tomorrow." Sabine grinned.

"Yeah, I talked Remus into Victorian garb." She chuckled. Lily laughed.

"That's what I talk Sev into." She shook her head. "We're going in green."

"Remus and I are going in blue." Sabine sighed. "I can't believe I'm actually excited about a ball." She shook her head incredulously.

"Our little Sabine is all grown up." Lily laughed, wiping away a fake tear and pulling Sabine into another hug. "Shall we look for dresses tomorrow?"

"I already agreed to go with Remus." Sabine cringed apologetically. Lily tensed for a second then loosened with a shrug.

"I suppose I can't really get mad about it, he is your date." She chuckled.

"I also sold you to James under the condition that you would give me your first love child." Sabine laughed, ducking as Lily swung a pillow at her.

"That isn't even he least bit funny." She said, trying to hide a smirk as she hit her again with a pillow. Sabine fell back in laughter, unable to control it as Lily kept hitting her playfully with a pillow. Finally she collapsed next to Sabine and sighed heavily. "So they really aren't that bad?" she asked quietly, turning her attention from the canopy to Sabine.

"So far as I can tell, no, they aren't that bad." Sabine sighed, shaking her head. "Sirius asked me to the ball first because I said I didn't have a date. I told him I didn't feel like being murdered by his girly cult of worshipers." She laughed. "Remus said he'd rather go with someone he could talk to so I figured I'd go. He is the smartest and most likely the easiest for me to get along with."

"Yeah, but Remus is wizard smart and you're muggle smart." Lily smirked. "You'll be droning on about books and he'll be droning on about Hogwarts history and charms."

"That's perfect; we'll drone in a boring harmony about stuff other people don't care about." Sabine laughed, sitting up with a sigh. "Well, I think I'm going to go back down to the common room and start reading again. I didn't get very far in before they started talking again." She yawned, scratching her head and stretching as she headed toward the door. "Perhaps you should come and hang out with them."

"Right, I'd love to spend time with James Potter and his merry band of morons." Lily said flatly, sitting up and shooting Sabine a half glare.

"Maybe if you just laid down some ground rules?" Sabine suggested as she stepped over the threshold.

"Not one of those four boys knows what a rule is." Lily called as Sabine closed the door behind her. Sabine skipped to the couch and hoisted herself over to grab her book and keep reading. The boys watched her expectantly.

"Well?" Peter asked impatiently. Sabine smirked at the fact that it wasn't actually the fourth time she had ever heard him speak. "What did she say?"

"Oh, not much." She sighed, never taking her eyes from the book. "We're fine." James sighed heavily and looked relieved.

"Good." He nodded. "I'd feel really bad if we caused a fight between you two." He said honestly. "And not because I want to get closer to her." He said quickly.

"I know, James." Sabine sang, continuing her reading. Finally, she thought to herself, a little bit of peace and quiet. She cocked an eyebrow when she heard Sirius sigh heavily from beside her. She glanced at him over her glasses.

"Is this all you do?" he whined. Sabine snorted with a smirk. "You just sit here and read?" he whined as she returned to he book.

"No, sometimes I have orgies with the teachers and dance naked around a campfire as we call Satan." She said flatly, flipping the page. Remus and James bellowed with laughter as Sirius sneered and Peter went wide eyed. "I like reading. Reading is fun-demental." She smirked, putting emphasis on 'fun'.

"Your 'demental' if you like it that much." Sirius joked, nudging her playfully.

"Well, if you're so bored, why are you still sitting here?" she asked casually. She glanced up from the book to see him watching her.

"Because we thought since we're friends now we'd hang out with you." He replied slowly, looking at her like she was crazy. "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade?" he asked with a devious grin. Sabine cocked an eyebrow and glanced around to see the others were wearing devious grins to match his. "Or are you a goody goody like Evans is?"

"Obviously I'm not a good goody if I hide firewhiskey in the couch, Sirius." She said casually, acting as though she has returned to her book. "First, how would we get out? Because I'm quite aware of Filch's looming presence knowing all the exits."

"Just let us worry about that." He smirked. "If you come with us maybe we'll let you become an honorary Marauder. Like the Marauder's resident little sister, if you will." He coaxed, thinking that tempting her might help. His smile faded when she snorted in laughter.

"Ooo, a guaranteed detention whenever you guys hex someone, sounds fantastic." She gushed sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Sirius turned a bit pink.

"Why aren't my charms and handsome charisma working?" he pouted, narrowing his eyes at Sabine appraisingly.

"Many, many reasons, Black." She grinned. "A smart girl never bats her eyelashes honestly at the enemy." She said cryptically, standing and stretching. "Alright, boys, let me go tell Lily I'm leaving and then we can go." Sabine sighed, running up the stairs. She poked her head through the door and chuckled to see Lily hung over her Transfiguration book, mouth agape, chewing on a quill. "Lil, I'm going on a walk with the guys." She cringed a little, hoping Lily wouldn't be too mad. Lily sighed exasperatedly and shook her head.

"Alright." She said curtly, trying to hide her anger and smiled weakly. "Good then."

"I'll be back in a few hours and we can study for a while, alright?" Sabine asked. Lily seemed to loosen and she smiled.

"Sounds good, don't get into trouble." She warned. Sabine laughed.

"Not that I'd need their help doing so, but I promise." She smiled, grabbing her pea coat from a chair and closed the door. Sabine jogged down the stairs as she slipped the coat on over her arms. She buttoned it quickly and followed between James and Peter. "Gods, I hope Sev doesn't see me and think you guys are kidnapping me before I get a chance to explain." Sabine laughed as they stepped through the painting.

"No worries. We'll hex him if he tries to talk to you." James shrugged, heading down toward the dungeons. Sabine scoffed.

"You'll do no such thing, Potter." She said defensively. "You may be my friends now but that doesn't change the fact that Severus is my friend. I'd defend you just like I'd defend him." James smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry." He said simply, scanning the hall. He peeked cautiously around the corner and motioned for us to move quickly.

"I'm coming with you." Lily called from behind them, running quickly as she narrowed her eyes at Sabine. "Going for a walk, you say?" she asked accusingly. Sabine smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't want you to get mad at me, Lily; I was going to tell you once we got back." She shrugged apologetically, feeling better as Lily's look softened.

"May we continue now?" Sirius asked pointedly, looking Lily over appraisingly. Lily gave a curt nod and filed in between Sabine and Remus, scowling at Sirius as he turned.


	2. Lily and The Marauder's inadvertant date

_**A/N:**_** So basically, I FINALLY got my first review!! squeegasm It totally made my day. ANYWAY… what was I saying… Ah, yes: Thank you JoyMichelle, you get a shiny little golden Marauders engraved snitch. Ooo… it's shiny. To my other three official readers… thank for reading. Again… reviews and concrit are appreciated. Hugs and stuff. I really really hope you enjoy the next part because I was all picky about it. **

_"I'm coming with you." Lily called from behind them, running quickly as she narrowed her eyes at Sabine. "Going for a walk, you say?" she asked accusingly. Sabine smiled sheepishly._

_"I didn't want you to get mad at me, Lily; I was going to tell you once we got back." She shrugged apologetically, feeling better as Lily's look softened. _

_"May we continue now?" Sirius asked pointedly, looking Lily over appraisingly. Lily gave a curt nod and filed in between Sabine and Remus, scowling at Sirius as he turned. _

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After 20 minutes of walking around the third floor, James stopped with a satisfied sigh in front of the one eyed witch statue. Lily cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms expectantly.

"Well? What now?" she grumbled.

"There's a trap door behind the statue that will lead us to Honeyduke's cellar. We can take the back entrance out and then we're free to walk around Hogsmeade." James beamed, grunting to lift the door with Remus. James dropped in first, then Remus, Peter and Lily.

"Ladies first." Sirius smiled pleasantly. Sabine snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Go on, I can close the door behind us." Sabine offered, motioning for Sirius to go ahead down. Sirius shook his head and motioned for her to go again.

"No, go on. It'll be easier for me to get the door, anyway." He sighed.

"Sirius, come on, just-" Sabine was interrupted by Filch.

"Hey, what do you kids think you're doing?" he yelped. Lily squeaked from the passage and looked pleadingly up at Sabine. Sirius shot them all a look that said to shut up. "Sneaking through a secret passage, I see?" Filch snapped, walking over to what looked to him to be an empty passage. "Going off to snog somewhere, no doubt." He sneered, heaving the door closed with a loud clap.

"Uh, no sir, we were actually just-" Sabine started, blushing at his previous insinuation. Sirius looked unfazed and sighed heavily.

"Save it, detention for the both of you." He said flatly, grabbing both their collars. "Come on, we're going to Dumbledore's office." He smirked dangerously. Sabine slapped her forehead and sighed, shooting a mutinous glare at Sirius who smiled back apologetically.

"Lily's going to kill me." Sabine whined. Sirius snorted.

"Yeah, well, James will make up for it. I'm sure he's going to be more than overjoyed with spending time alone with her." Sirius shrugged, chuckling a little. Sabine whimpered and sighed heavily as Filch finally stopped in front of a large gargoyle on the seventh floor. Sirius sighed heavily and nodded as Sabine looked at him questioningly.

"Chocolate Frog." Filch grumbled. The gargoyle bowed regally before stepping aside. Sabine's eyes went wide and she squeaked as Filch dragged them up the stairs. As they reached the top of the stairs he let Sabine's collar go, obviously smart enough to think Sirius would run. Filch pounded the door, sneering at it before grabbing her collar again.

"Enter." Dumbledore said casually. The door creaked open slowly and Filch recommenced dragging them. He stopped at Dumbledore's desk, letting both their collars go and crossing his arms tight.

"I caught these two trying to sneak out to Hogsmeade through the one eyed witch passage." Filch sneered at Sirius. Sabine bit her lip and winced as she glanced at Dumbledore. "Obviously the broom closets here at Hogwarts aren't good enough to snog in anymore." He added. A smirk played on Dumbledore's lips as he looked from Sirius to Sabine, then to Filch.

"That will be all, Argus, I can handle it from here." He said pleasantly. Filch nodded curtly, turning on his heel and marching from the room and slamming the door behind him. Dumbledore motioned for them to sit. Sabine crumpled into a chair and let out a small whimper.

"I've never had a detention that actually required coming to your office, sir." She said quietly, cringing in anticipation of the verbal beating she assumed Dumbledore would give her. She was surprised to hear him chuckle.

"No, I dare say we haven't even gotten to know one another." He smiled once she'd finally removed her hands from her eyes. She blinked rapidly. "Though that doesn't mean you'll be evading a detention." He added, still smiling. "Tell me, where were you two going?"

"Uh, we wanted to go look for costumes for the Halloween Ball." Sirius answered for both of them.

"Are you going together?" Dumbledore asked, a look of slight surprise twinkling in his eyes. "I was under the impression, through the hushed discussions of the other students, that Sirius, you were going alone and that Sabine, you weren't going at all. I'm glad you've had a change of heart."

"Oh, no, we aren't going together." Sabine said quickly. She laughed and shook her head. "No, Sirius is still going alone, I'm going with Remus." She explained, surprised to see that Dumbledore seemed slightly disappointed.

"Well, I'm glad you've changed your mind nonetheless." He continued. "Now, to discuss this detention." He said, a little more serious than before. "I'd put you to work for Filch if I didn't think he'd hang you in the dungeons by your toenails." Sabine let out a squeak and stiffened in her seat. "I think that cleaning telescopes with Professor Sinistra will be sufficient."

"But, she's only ever awake at night, Professor Dumbledore." Sirius chuckled incredulously. Dumbledore's smiled widened as he looked Sirius levelly in the eye.

"Indeed she does." He nodded, beaming ear to ear. "I'm sure you and Miss Alptraum are quite glad it's a Saturday."

"We'll still be able to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow, right, sir?" Sabine asked meekly, looking apologetic. Sirius rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Of course." He nodded agreeably. Sabine sighed slowly, looking considerably more comfortable. "You two will report to the astronomy tower at midnight tonight and clean the telescope lenses and help her with what ever she needs until 1:30 a.m. Then you'll be escorted back to the Gryffindor dormitory by Mr. Filch. I trust you will be more careful now when using the secret passages around Hogwarts?" he mused, standing and motioning for Sabine and Sirius to leave.

"Uh, wha-" Sabine asked, confused, as she was led out by Sirius.

"Thank you, sir." Sirius smiled, interrupting her and practically pushing her from his office.

"We'll be careful next time we use it?" Sabine asked, shaking her head in confusion. "What the bloody hell was all that about?" Sirius laughed.

"He knows we won't ever stop using it." He explained. "To be honest, I don't think he really cares either way. He knows how Filch can get. Anyway, let's head back to the common room."

"I can't believe I let you guys get me in trouble." Sabine grumbled. "I hate detention."

"What do you mean you 'let' us get you into trouble?" Sirius asked incredulously, brows furrowed. "We asked if you wanted to come and you said yes, you weren't forced."

"Ugh, I wasn't saying I was forced, ass." Sabine shot snidely. Sirius sneered at her, rolling his eyes. "I was just saying that I can't believe I made that decision and didn't foresee getting into any trouble at all when you four have the reputation of getting into trouble for breathing wrong." She explained, toeing the ground as they finally reached the Fat Lady's painting.

"I hear you two were caught trying to sneak away to snog!" the Fat Lady gushed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"We weren't going to snog, for crying out loud!" Sabine snapped, suddenly cringing. "Sorry, Fat Lady, I'm a little aggravated about having detention now."

"Perfectly alright, dear." The Fat Lady smiled apologetically, then glancing Sirius over appraisingly. "What were you two going to do, if you don't mind my asking?"

"We were trying to get to Hogsmeade." Sabine sighed. "Pumpkin Juice." The painting creaked open reluctantly. Sabine sauntered in flopping onto the couch with a loud sigh.

"It's not like it's really that big a deal." Sirius finally spat after a solid ten minutes of silence. Sabine cocked an eyebrow and shot a glare his way. "I thought you weren't a goody goody."

"Oh shut up, Black. I'm not in the mood to bicker." She sneered. "It's more Lily than the detention that has me upset. She's going to be upset about explaining to Sev what happened today because no doubt they were going to spend time at the lake again today. Not to mention that she's going to be less than thrilled with me that I got her into all this mess." Sirius shrugged, looking unscathed and unapologetic.

"So, hex Sevvy-kins and tell Evan's to eat it." He suggested casually. Sabine snorted and shook her head.

"I am wholly unsurprised to find that you have little grasp on the emotional state of others, Black." Sabine sighed, rubbing her eyes. He opened his mouth to protest. "Don't say it, I don't care."

"How the hell did you know I was going to say something?" he yelped, pouting and crossing his arms across his chest.

"Women's intuition is not a myth, Black." She mused with a yawn. "How long do you think the other Marauders will keep Lily in Hogsmeade? I'm trying to decide whether I'd like to be good and pissed before she gets back and if there isn't enough time it won't be worth the effort."

"Well, Remus and Peter will likely want to be back very soon." He said reasonably. Sabine nodded slowly. "However, James is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to Evans."

"Merlin, she is going to kill me." Sabine laughed, resting her head back to stare at the ceiling. "If you had just climbed into that Gods-Forsaken hole, Black…" she trailed off.

"Ha!" he yelped. "If _you_ had only climbed into that hole, we wouldn't be in this. Typical woman, had to argue." He shook his head remorsefully. Sabine gaped at him, blinking incredulously.

"I am constantly amazed that you are single, Black. You have the sensitivity of a brick wall." She chuckled, tossing a pillow at him.

Sirius and Sabine sat in mildly awkward silence for several hours, chatting occasionally for a few minutes but never really having a full conversation. Their attention shot to the hall that led from the painting as they heard the Fat Lady greeting students. Sabine glanced at the clock quickly to see that it was 8:30 p.m.

"Sabine Louise Alptraum!" Lily's voice bellowed as she rounded the corner. She glared dangerously at Sabine, the pointed at the stairs. "Go, now, I don't want witnesses." She hissed, eyes narrowing to slits. Sabine stood cautiously, hand on her wand. James stumbled in between Peter and Remus, resting on their shoulders and clutching his nose in one hand.

"Merlin, Lily, what did you do to him?" Sabine gasped. She stiffened at the fire in Lily's eyes and ran up the stairs. "See-you-guys-later-get-well-soon-James-bye!" she called quickly, running into the girl's dormitory.

"That foul, pervy little git tried to cop a feel and I blame no one but you and his treacherous unfit parents." Lily yelled, slamming the door behind her. "What the hell happened to you two?!"

"We've got detention with Sinistra tonight." Sabine said meekly, knowing that a long explaination was not necessary or possible at this point.

"Ha, serves you idiots right." Lily scathed, throwing herself onto her bed.

"So… Lil, what did you do to James?" Sabine asked quietly after a few seconds of silence. She felt her brows furrow in confused fright as a smirk played across Lily's lips.

"The pervert grabbed my bum so I Bat-Bogied him, then I kicked his shin." She replied, unable to keep the air of self satisfaction from her voice.

"Ah…" Sabine nodded, unable to control her laughter. "Sounds as though he had it coming."

"He bloody well did." Lily scoffed. "I'm sorry for shouting at you." She added a few minutes later.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too, Lil. I didn't mean to make you spend the day with Potter." Sabine sighed remorsefully. Lily sighed. "Did you pick out your dress?"

"No, they don't have any costumes at all." She grumbled. "Remus got his suit though, it looks kind of Victorian, but they didn't have any Victorian style dresses so you'll definitely have to go tomorrow with him. What time is your detention?"

"Midnight to 1:30 a.m." Sabine sighed. "I'm leaving the common room at 11:30 to be safe."

"Why don't you take a nap, then?" Lily suggested. Sabine shrugged and yawned.

"Thanks for the suggestion, Lil, I think I may just do that." She chuckled, rolling over and falling asleep almost immediately.


	3. Too early, too late, too both

**A/N: _I'd really appreciate some reviews, ya know, people. I've only gotten one but I have way more hits than that. Come on, if you like it, let me know, please. If I don't think you like it I won't keep posting. _**

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Sabine awoke with a start and glanced at the clock to see that it was 11:00. She yawned and hung her feet over the side of the bed, stretching her arms high above her head. She stumbled towards the bathroom to wash her face and fix her hair again. Once she'd retrained it with a headband and a rubber band, Sabine changed into a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt and quietly exited to the stairs. She crept down silently, and then gasped as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Morning, darling." Sirius drawled suggestively behind her. Sabine slugged him in the shoulder.

"Don't do that!" she hissed quietly, eyes narrowed. "Creepy git." She mumbled, straightening her shirt and glancing at the clock on the wall. "Shall we leave early or wait a bit? It's only 11:15." Sirius glanced at the clock in thought and sighed.

"Let's wait. I'd rather not have to work any longer than an hour and a half." He mumbled, flopping heavily onto the couch. Sabine sat at the other end and curled her legs under her, giving a great yawn and sighing. "So did Lily try to murder you?"

"Ah, no." Sabine grinned. "No, Lily and I talked about it. When we fight it never lasts long anyway."

"I've noticed that." Sirius chuckled. "So why is it that you're only ever with Evans and Sniv- uh, Severus." He asked, correcting himself when Sabine shot him a glare.

"Because they're the only friends I ever had." Sabine shrugged casually. "We met on the train and Lily was muggle born like me. Where she went, he followed because they've been friends since they were both around 6. We kind of stuck up for one another because we all know what its like to be looked down upon." She added the last part quietly. "So, we sometimes spend holidays with one another. Sev's parents are as receptive to it as Lily's or mine. Hell, usually we spend holidays with my brother in Ireland." She chuckled. "He's a muggle."

"I didn't know you were muggle born." He said quietly. Sabine shrugged and watched the burning fire before them, sighing deeply. "Why do you spend holidays with your brother?" he asked, crinkling his nose in confusion.

"Well, my parents are great and all but they just don't get the whole magic thing." She explained, never taking her eyes from the fire. "My brother, on the other hand, we used to make believe we were magical when we were younger. We'd wave sticks around when we were kids, acting like they were wands." She chuckled. "Then when I was nine, I waved my stick and made him levitate for a second. Scared the bejesus out of me, I started crying. Rich though, that's my brother, he kept telling me to do it again." Sirius laughed.

"Then two years later it all made sense?" he asked. Sabine nodded, laughing.

"Yeah, but my parents have always been kind of stand offish about it. I dunno, it's almost like their scared I'm going to make them spontaneously combust or turn them into toads." She sighed, shaking her head. Sirius couldn't help but notice the bitterness edging her voice. "And so I go spend my holidays with the other black sheep of the family." Sirius looked at her questioningly. She shook her head evasively and stood. "Time to go. You know the way?"

"Y-yeah." He nodded, debating with himself whether to push the subject. Sabine stepped through the painting first and lit her wand.

"So, quid pro quo, it's your turn. I told you about my family, you tell me about yours." She sighed casually. Sirius looked away, looking silently contemplative before he sighed defeatedly.

"I hate my family." He said quietly, keeping his eyes forward. Sabine chuckled then her face washed with concern when she looked at him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. Sirius shook his head and sighed.

"They're Slytherin all the way back." He continued. "Their pure blood status means everything to them so they support the Dark Lord. I'm kind of the one of the outcasts because I've been sorted into Gryffindor. I get yelled at a lot for being a 'blood traitor' as they put it. My Uncle Alphard and my cousin Andromeda were both in different houses, too. Uncle Alphie was in Ravenclaw and Andi was in Hufflepuff." He explained. "So, being at home is hell. Mostly I spend time at James' house."

"That's terrible that they treat you that way." Sabine said apologetically, things were beginning to click into place in her mind. She understood his attitude a lot more. The silence that followed was only slightly awkward as they trudged towards the astronomy tower. Finally, after a good 20 minute walk they skittered into Professor Sinistra's office, just on time.

"The cloths and lenses are there on that table. When you finish there, let me know." She mumbled flatly, never looking up from her paper work or moving from her desk. Sabine sighed heavily as she glanced over the huge table covered in dusty, smudged lenses. Sirius blinked rapidly before slumping in defeat as he grabbed a rag, rubbing a lens furiously, examining it and cocking an eyebrow.

"This one's cracked." He said, extending it towards Professor Sinistra. She glanced up and sighed.

"Reparo." She said flatly, flourishing her wand and then returning to her paperwork. Sabine snorted and shook her head, returning to polishing the lenses. She glanced up at Sirius to see him holding lenses to his eyes, so they looked magnified, as he pulled a goofy face.

"Attractive." She said flatly, smirking. Sirius puffed out his chest and shrugged victoriously.

"I get that a lot." He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. Sabine rolled her eyes and threw a spare cloth at him.

"Be careful over there, I don't want to have to repair all my lenses because you two can't stop flirting with one another." Sinistra sang sarcastically, glaring over her thick glasses at them. Sabine blushed and her eyes narrowed in Sinistra's direction. Sirius shook his head and rolled his eyes. Finally, Sirius finished polishing the last lens with a great yawn and noticed Sabine was nearly asleep at the other end of the table.

"We're done now, Professor." He sighed, eyes drooping. Sabine shot up and shook her head, one eye half closed as she scanned the room. Sirius snorted and laughed at her, receiving a mutinous sneer from Sabine. Sinistra sighed and stood from her desk, stretching. She strode casually towards the table.

"I suppose that's good enough." She shrugged, glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner. "Filch should be here in a soon anyway. You can wait outside; I have a lot to do tonight." She yawned, glancing them over and cocking an eyebrow. "Goodnight." She added curtly, marching back to her desk and waving them off.

"That woman is a nutter." Sirius sighed, shaking his head once they'd stepped outside her door. "Can you believe she said we were flirting?" he gaped incredulously. Sabine stifled a yawn and nodded agreeably.

"Yeah, she's a loony." She said flatly, surveying the halls for any sign of Filch. She turned back to Sirius to see him staring at her.

"We weren't flirting." He pursued. Sabine cocked an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Yes, we've established that, Sirius." She said slowly, snorting in laughter. "You need sleep, my friend, desperately." She added, before returning to surveying the halls. Finally she spotted Filch as he turned a corner and stalked towards them. "Ugh, finally, here he comes." She sighed, stepping out from the cubby before her door. Filch sneered at them.

"I trust you've learned your lessons?" he chastised, turning to walk them back. Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, sir." Sabine said curtly, shooting Sirius a look that screamed 'shut up, you git'. They walked silently, finally reaching the dorms. Filch practically barked the password at the Fat Lady, who happened to be sleeping and glared at him before swinging open. He stared Sabine and Sirius down as they walked quickly into the common room, yelping as the Fat Lady slammed the painting and began to chastise him for his rude attitude.

"I still can't believe she thought we were flirting with each other." Sirius snorted indignantly, chuckling nervously and shaking his head.

Sabine nodded, glancing around the common room and biting her bottom lip. She looked over at Sirius, shifting her gaze away quickly when their eyes met. She flopped heavily onto the couch and sighed, acting as nonchalant as she could while fidgeting with her shirt hem. Just like all the other girls, she thought Sirius was cute. However, she was unique in thinking that above all else, Sirius Black was usually a toady egotistical git. Sirius flopped down next to her, looking confused, tired, and slightly nervous. Sabine took that as her queue and feigned a pretty convincing yawn, stretching her arms above her head.

"I'm going to bed, my head's not on straight." She mumbled as she walked towards the stairs. Just as her foot touched the bottom step she felt a hand on her shoulder. Sirius spun her around and looked directly into her eyes, just as tired and droopy eyed as she was, and she gritted her teeth and said a silent prayer. Finally Sabine shook her head and pulled away, turning on her heel and running up the stairs. Sirius watched her run and sighed heavily when he heard her quietly close the girl's dormitory door. He scratched his head and crinkled his nose.

"It is entirely too early for me to be trying to figure out a girl like Sabine Alptraum." He reasoned with himself, shaking his head and trudging up the stairs. He pushed the door open to see James and Remus poured over the Marauders Map, eating sweets and plotting out a trick.

"How was detention, Pads?" James mumbled, glancing up quickly then turning his attention back to the map.

"Sinistra is a nutter." Sirius grumbled, leaping onto his bed and shaking his head. Remus cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "She said Sabine and I were flirting with each other."

"That isn't totally unreasonable, Pads, you flirt with every girl." James smirked, rolling his eyes. Sirius gaped at him.

"I do not!" he barked defensively. James nodded slowly, still smirking.

"Oh, 'course not, Pads, your creepy pack of worshippers only remain loyal because you treat them like your mother." He snorted, returning his attention to the map. Sirius stammered, trying to find a proper defense but failing miserably.

"Alright, so I flirt with a lot of girls." He reasoned. "But not Alptraum." Sirius wagged his finger at James. "Even if I _did_ flirt with her, it wouldn't be the same thing."

"Relax, Pads, no one said you were in love with her or anything." Remus rolled his eyes, walking over to his bed. "She is pretty though."

"Definite potential, that one." James nodded in agreement, tossing the map onto his nightstand. "However, she is a tiring work in progress, I'd say. That is, if anyone is actually working on her."

"You're talking like she's a charity case." Sirius spat, suddenly realizing what he'd said. He waited in silence, biting his lip in hopes that they'd take it as a joke. James lifted himself up on his elbows and surveyed Sirius with narrowed eyes. Finally, to Sirius' joy, he shook his head vigorously and lay back down, turning his light off. Sirius stared up into the darkness. 'What the bloody hell is all this about?' he asked himself.


	4. From Hogsmeade to Hospital, thanks, guys

**A/N:****So I know this one took a lil bit, but I did encounter a few issues. First, I wrote like, 10 pages when I wasn't feeling well or when I was very tired, then I reread it all and was like 'blaaaah, thats poo poo caca.' I didn't delete it, because... well it was so so so long. Anyway, I took that away and saved it incase I couldn't figure anything else out and wanted to just re-re-re-rewrite that 18 times until it felt better. But, alas, something better came. THEN, then, ooomg, I tried to log on and was all, you spammed, no account info for you. SO, now that that is all fix-ed and working correctly... here ya all go. **

**Quick question to everyone else: Did anyone else have account issues?**

**Anyhoo, enjoy the chap and to those who read my story: sorry for the much delay-age.**

* * *

Lily sat up in bed, hearing the alarm, and yelped in seeing Sabine sitting cross legged on the edge. Sabine sighed heavily and tore the blankets from Lily's hands.

"I think today may be the day I let you make me over." She smiled, looking slightly unsure and quite tired.

"Did you sleep at all or-" Lily paused, furrowing her brows. "You let me what?" she asked slowly, looking Sabine over appraisingly. Sabine sighed and fidgeted with the blanket as if it were of great interest to her.

"Well, being that you've been waiting since the third day we spent at Hogwarts to give me a proper make over, I thought today you should get your wish." She said quietly, looking desperately like she wanted Lily to say no. She cringed when Lily gave a squeal and kicked her legs over the bed, slipping off with a thump as she flailed her arms. She stood quickly, straightening her pajama top.

"Don't tease me, Sabine; I don't think my heart can take it." Lily joked, grabbing her make up bag and scrambling through Sabine's trunk for clothes. She gave each article of clothing that Sabine loved a look of disgust before discarding it onto Sabine's bed with an 'ew' or an 'oh, hell no'. Finally she pulled a pair of jeans out that Sabine hadn't worn since second year.

"Lily, those don't fit me anymore." Sabine squeaked as they hit her in the head. "I haven't worn them since second year, they're too tight."

"Your only problem is that they're just tight enough." Lily said smugly as she began tossing shirts. She shook her head, making a face that showed how confused she was at the last comment. She gasped as Lily pulled out a shirt that actually fit and looked at Sabine menacingly over her shoulder.

"No, not that one." She whined, holding her hands up in defense. Lily cocked an eyebrow as she turned, placing a hand on her hip threateningly. "Come on, it's going to be cold, can't I wear my big comfortable sweater?" Lily scoffed and shook her head, throwing the shirt at Sabine's head and pointing at the bathroom.

"Go, or I'll put it on you myself." She ordered with a satisfied smirk. "Let me know when you've finished. I took a bath last night; I'm going to dress out here." She added, stretching her arms above her head and peeling her shirt over her head.

Sabine closed the door and sighed, almost glaring at the clothes Lily had given her to put on. She showered quickly and slipped them on, moving about uncomfortably because they fit well. The jeans were a dark wash, fitting well enough to make Sabine cringe at her reflection. The shirt was a deep maroon with long sleeves that almost covered her hands, fitting like a glove. On the left, just above the pocket, there was a griffin, which happened to be the only reason her brother had bought the shirt for her. It fit just as well as the pants, inspiring a sigh of defeat from Sabine as she threw the bathroom door open.

"I absolutely loathe the very ground you walk on, Lily Evans." Sabine mumbled flatly, stalking back into the bathroom as Lily closed the door behind them.

"Oh, hush, you sound like Sev when you mumble." She laughed, flipping through her make up bag. "You're the one that suggested this." She sang.

"Only because I didn't think my misery would be such a source of joy to you." Sabine grumbled, hanging her head and slouching her shoulders. Lily did her best to jerk them back and stuck her tongue out.

"You got me, I'm such a sadist." Lily said flatly, holding up eyeliner and eyeshadow. She scrunched her nose and shook her head. "Nuh-uh, nope, not that one." Sabine laughed at the look of amused determination on Lily's face as she tossed the eyeshadow back into the bag.

"Why don't you just use a make up charm?" Sabine asked. Lily shot her a look like she'd grown a hand from her forehead.

"And look like all of the other girls here?" Lily scoffed. "Ha, no thank you. There we go." She nodded, finally satisfied with a shade or lilac and a clear gloss for her lips. "Sit, open your mouth, close your eyes, and try not to cringe." Sabine couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you going to do, put on my make up or molest me?" She said between fits of laughter. Lily rolled her eyes and shot her a reproving look.

"I swear, you're like the first female Marauder." Lily mumbled, pouting.

"You certainly seem to like me more than James." Sabine said, tilting her head back as Lily opened the eyeshadow. "Or do you…?" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"You really think it's so wise to be insulting the woman that can make you look like a clown?" Lily said warningly. Sabine smiled apologetically before she assumed the position that Lily requested. After what felt like ages, Lily clapped her hands together in what appeared to be sheer joy. Sabine blinked a few times, staring expectantly at Lily. "Well stand up, go check yourself out."

Sabine stood slowly and gulped audibly, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She surveyed it carefully, not wanting to make any faces that might send Lily into a rage fueled rant about her ungratefulness. Finally she smiled and nodded, satisfied with it.

"Alright, now I'll do my hair." Sabine said, grabbing a brush. Lily slapped her hand, taking the brush from her with a look like the hand Sabine's forehead must have sprouted had begun to wave at her.

"Ah, no, now _I'll_ do your hair." She beamed, gently brushing the back. Sabine watched her wide eyed, a little frightened now. "Hand me that maroon and gold headband over there, please?" she said flatly. "Now the hair tie."

"Yes, ma'am." Sabine chuckled, receiving a glare. She closed her mouth, not wanting to disturb Lily in her obviously determined work. With a snap, Lily let the hair tie go, tightening it a little and beginning to brush Sabine's bangs, biting her lip in concentration. Finally she stepped back and gave a satisfied nod.

"Looks like what I see when I look at you, Sab." Lily smiled quietly, hugging Sabine tight. Sabine surveyed her reflection once more and couldn't help but smile at the fact that she really did look like a polished version of herself. "Now, let's go get a bagel, we have an hour or so before we're supposed to leave for Hogsmeade."

"Thank you, Lily." Sabine smiled softly, following Lily from the bathroom. They grabbed their coats and headed down the stairs. Lily stopped cautiously at the bottom step and her eyes darted around the common room, searching for the Marauders. "Oh, will you just go already, they aren't here." Sabine laughed, giving Lily a light shove.

"One can never be too cautious." Lily said barely above a whisper as she continued cautiously through the common room. Sabine rolled her eyes and sighed, smacking Lily playfully in the back with her coat and running ahead of her.

"Race you to the great hall." She laughed, practically leaping through the painting. Lily kept close behind, finally catching up as they ran towards the entrance to the great hall. Lily lurched ahead, gasping for air between fits of laughter as she handed Sabine a bagel from the table. Sabine feigned a scowl as she snatched it, laughing.

"That was fun." Lily said, finally regaining some breath. Sabine nodded vigorously, chewing her bagel happily as she took a seat next to Lily. Sabine glanced over at Lily to see her stiffen and become silent. James slid suavely onto the bench across from them, not noticing Sabine, not recognizing her, or completely ignoring her. She realized suddenly that he didn't recognize her at first.

"Oi, Sabine, you look nice today." He said in amazement, then cringing. "Er, not that you don't usually. You just… today you look… you look nice today." He finally sighed in defeat. Sabine laughed.

"Why thank you, James." She grinned, mashing Lily's toes with her foot to try to get her to participate in the conversation. Lily squeaked and kicked her, maintaining a relatively serene face of indifference.

"You look nice today, too, Lily." He beamed, obviously ending his interaction with Sabine. Lily narrowed her eyes and glared at Sabine before turning to James.

"Thank you, Potter." She said curtly, shooting yet another glare at Sabine. "I'm going to find Sev." Lily said flatly, standing before Sabine could say anything. "I'll explain the dance and you being friends with them now." She added comfortingly. Sabine nodded gratefully, turning back to James, who was watching Lily's retreating back.

"You know, in the muggle world, they'd call you a stalker." Sabine smirked. James nodded slowly, still staring at Lily as she found Severus.

"Yeah, sure, you're right." He said flatly.

"James, I'm pregnant, and Hagrid is the father, will you support my decision to keep the child?" She smirked, barely able to contain her laughter.

"Of course, good then, that is fantastic." He sighed, finally turning back to her as Lily left. His face scrunched in confused disgust. "What?!" he yelped. Sabine couldn't help but practically cackle at him.

"I was joking." She laughed. "Because it was painfully obvious that you didn't hear a word I said."

"I heard that you're having Hagrid's love child." He sneered. Sabine rolled her eyes, relieved to see Remus, Sirius and Peter walking into the great hall.

"Yes, well, I think I'm going to sell him on the black market." She said flatly, shrugging with indifference. James failed at containing a smirk and shook his head.

"You remind me more and more of a Marauder every day." He sighed, looking almost proud. Sabine snorted, shaking her head as Remus sat down next to her, squinting at her before his eyes went wide.

"You look wonderful, today." Remus smiled softly.

"Yeah, you clean up nicely." Sirius said crudely, flopping down next to James and shoving a sausage roughly into his mouth.

"That's very attractive, Sirius." Sabine smiled sarcastically. "As for cleaning up nicely, I only wish I could say the same about you." James chuckled as Sirius sneered in response. Remus smiled deeply, placing an arm around Sabine's shoulder. Sirius glanced back down at his modest plate of food and resumed eating in relative silence.

"I definitely believe you should become a Marauder." James nodded, looking to the other Marauders. Remus nodded in agreement, looking rather pleased with the idea, as did Peter. Sirius, however, had contorted his face into a look of disgusted confusion, and looked to be fighting to keep silent. Sabine shook her head with a sigh.

"I take that as a compliment and all, but I think the last thing I need to do is form an allegiance with a group that spends a portion of their time torturing my friend." She chastised, shooting pointed glances at all of them separately. "Now, boys, shall we go? McGonagall looks like she'll be finished with her breakfast soon." Sabine said with a smile, standing and putting her coat on. They followed suit silently, Remus keeping up with her, Sirius and James following, and Peter tagging along behind with his head hung modestly.

"I think our first stop should be Gladrags." Remus suggested once they'd stopped at the back of the large collection of students. Sabine nodded, searching for the bright red hair of her friend, finding her at the front of the group, standing next to a rather angry looking Severus. She sighed, anticipating the conversation that would ensue the next time they hung out together. Remus patted her shoulder comfortingly. "If he's a good friend, he'll understand."

"I hope he does." She smiled weakly at him. Finally, McGonagall and Filch did a head count and the students took the long cold trek to Hogsmeade in relative silence. Once they'd passed the tracks for the Hogwarts Express, people began to break off, running to The Three Broomsticks, or Honeyduke's.

"We're going to Zonko's Joke Shop." James called as he ran with Sirius and Peter. Remus watched them leave, stuffing his hands in his pockets and slowing his pace as he walked with Sabine.

"Oh, did Lily tell you already that I already got my suit?" He asked, obviously fishing for some kind of conversation starter.

"Mhm." Sabine smirked. Remus nodded, humming in thought as he glanced around at the buildings. "You really hate silence, don't you?" she chuckled.

"Only if it seems the slightest bit awkward." He smiled sheepishly, pulling the door open for her and bowing softly. Remus followed her in quickly, brushing the stray bits of snow from his coat and scanning the room for dress racks. Sabine started flipping frantically through the dresses, flashing looks of indifference or out right disgust as she did so. Remus watched in amusement, never really having been a part of his date's buying a dress.

"Ooo, this one's pretty." Sabine said in awe. She pulled a simple, but gorgeous deep blue dress from the rack, eyeing it with scrutiny before nodding to herself. "Do you like it?" she asked, looking like it actually made a difference whether he did or not. He was slightly taken aback as he smiled deeply.

"It looks gorgeous, you should try it on." He said softly. Sabine nodded, turning her attention back to the dress as she skittered towards the changing room. After a few minutes, she walked self consciously from the dressing room, already cringing in anticipation. Remus was staring at her and she wasn't entirely sure what that meant his reaction was. She rushed to the mirror and started fidgeting with it.

"Definitely not." She sighed, regret evident in her eyes.

"No, it's perfect!" Remus protested, eyeing her up and down. "Really, it looks great on you." He said honestly, still eyeing her. Sabine's face flushed as she softened, still scrutinizing her reflection. The dress was an almost midnight blue, empire waist dress, reaching just below her knee. "It matches my vest and tie, too." He smiled warmly. Sabine looked at his reflection gratefully before nodding in agreement.

"This is the dress, then." She beamed, heading back towards the changing rooms. Once changed, she strode out quickly, beaming as she followed Remus to the counter to pay.

"That'll be 13 galleons, 8 sickles, and 5 knuts." The cashier smiled. Sabine struggled to get her money from her pocket, finally dolling it out. She sighed heavily and mentally cursed Lily as she shoved her hand back into her pocket, releasing the coins and quickly grabbing the dress box. Remus ran ahead, opening the door for her and receiving a chuckle from Sabine.

"You're such a gentleman, Remus." She mused, patting his shoulder. "So, to The Three Broomsticks, then?" she asked.

"Sure, if there isn't anywhere else you'd like to stop." Remus nodded, placing his arm around her shoulder and smiling. Sabine smiled deeply to herself as they started towards The Three Broomsticks. She knew she always liked Remus; he always seemed like such a nice guy. She couldn't help but feel like he had best friend potential with the way he acted like an older brother. He opened the door for her once again, bowing and motioning for her to go ahead. She laughed and found a table. "Two butterbeers?" he asked as Madam Rosmerta made her way over to their table. Sabine nodded, hopping from her chair to gain access to the money in her pocket and again vehemently cursing Lily in her mind. "No worries, it's on me." He smiled nonchalantly, ordering. Sabine slid slowly into her chair.

"Are you sure? I brought enough money." She asked wearily. Remus nodded, waving away her offer of money. "Thank you, Remus, I owe you."

"I'll hold you to it." He joked, wagging his finger at her in a mock threat. Sabine laughed, glancing around.

"I wonder where your other partners in crime are hiding." She smirked. "I had heard that Sirius had an unnatural affinity for Madam Rosmerta."

"You have heard correctly, but if you tell him, I'll never forgive you." Remus laughed, glancing around cautiously as Madam Rosmerta delivered their drinks. Sabine nodded gravely, a smirk obviously playing on her lips. "So, Christmas is coming up, are you going home?"

"I'm going to my brother's cottage in Ireland." She shrugged. "He lives in Ardmore, Waterford and I usually spend my holidays there. What about you?"

"Most likely, if I'm not at Hogwarts, I'll be with James and Sirius at the Potter's." Remus smiled weakly. Sabine nodded in understanding. A smile spread across her face suddenly.

"You should spend Christmas with my brother and me." She said excitedly. Remus looked unsure. "Oh, come on, he's really nice and it'll just be the two of us there anyway. Rich's cottage is really close to the sea and the weather isn't too bad there." She coaxed, obviously excited about the idea. "Sirius and James are more than welcome to visit. Lily and Sev do sometimes."

"I think I may just do that." Remus finally smiled, looking grateful and relieved. He paused for a second, looking into Sabine's eyes. "I'm really glad I'm going to the dance with you, Sabine, and I'm really glad we're friends."

"I am, too, Remus, I feel like you're like another big brother." She smiled warmly. Remus nodded happily. He finished his butterbeer and stood, helping Sabine with her coat and dropping a galleon on the table. Sabine rushed to the door and opened it before Remus could, mocking his bow and laughing as he curtsied. She turned to see Sirius and James in an argument with Lily and Severus, just outside Honeyduke's. Remus shot her a worried look before they ran over.

"You traitor, how could you be friends with them?" Severus demanded with anger and hurt resonating in his voice. Sabine cringed, looking pleadingly at Lily, who gave her an apologetic look before she returned to glaring at James.

"Just because she realizes that you're a greasy git and that we're actually right about you doesn't mean you have any right to get angry." Sirius shot haughtily. Sabine growled, throwing her arms up in defeat. All eyes shot to her, watching in surprise and nervous anticipating.

"You're all such immature little children!" she yelled. "I'm tired of your fighting! I can't take this anymore, if you all want to fight so badly then go right ahead. I'm tired of listening to Severus and Lily droning on about you Marauders and I'm tired of you Marauders droning on about them. I give up!" she concluded, breathing heavily and feeling her face burning in anger. Lily stammered, looking hurt. Sirius looked incensed as he glared at the both of them and raised his wand. Sabine shot forward, just as Severus raised his.

"Stupify!" they both shouted. Sabine's eyes bugged out as both of the hexes hit her, landing a few feet away on the ground with an audible 'thud'.

"You insufferable dolt!" Severus yelped as he ran to Sabine.

"Me?! You're the one that hit her!" Sirius yelled defensively, following close behind. Sabine stared up at the sky between them wide eyed before she let out another, shakier, growl.

"Get away from me, both of you!" she yelped, faltering and landing hard again on the ground. "Not surprisingly, my legs and arms don't want to work properly." She snarled, glaring back and forth at both of them then whimpering in defeat.

"What is going on over here?" McGonagall's voice demanded. Sabine whimpered from her spot on the ground as she made another futile attempt at standing. McGonagall looked down at her pityingly and shook her head.

"You see, Professor, Sabine kind of… well, she got hit by two Stunning Spells." James stammered nervously.

"That git tried to hit Severus, and Severus was defending himself and Sabine ran between then trying to get them to stop." Lily yelped wildly, pointing down at Sabine. Sabine's eyes tried to narrow, but she ended up looking as though she was squinting painfully.

"That's not true; we raised our wands at the same time." Sirius growled defensively.

"Not another word from any of you. Mr. Black, you will take Sabine to see Madam Pomfrey as she obviously cannot even stand on her own." McGonagall ordered scathingly. "Mr. Snape, Ms. Evans, and Mr. Potter, you three will follow me as I gather the other students. Mr. Lupin, as it seems you were an innocent bystander, I would ask that you follow me as well and we shall discuss this further in my office." Remus nodded, glancing with disappointment at the others before he grabbed Sabine's dress box.

"Come on, then." Sirius grunted, lacing an arm around Sabine and placing hers over his shoulder. "Let's get you checked out." Sabine glared steadily at him, choosing not to speak for the time being as she stumbled next to him. "You could help me out a little bit." He grunted by the time they were crossing the tracks.

"You insufferable moron, you're half the reason I'm like this, you know." Sabine hissed, trying to pull away from him. She landed flat on her ass, her whimper shifting quickly into a growl of frustration. Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed, lacing his arm around her again and hoisting her up carefully, letting her get as sure on her legs as she possibly could. Her legs wobbled and shook with each step and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's quite endearing to see you this way, you know." He said patronizingly. Sabine gritted her teeth and decided to keep quiet as much as she could. "Careful here, there's a bit of a hole in the road." He warned casually. Sabine watched it carefully, cringing as they got closer and saying a silent prayer that she could avoid it. Just as they crossed over, she stepped forward and whimpered as she felt her foot still falling rather than stop on the ground. "Shit!" Sirius yelped as they teetered in Sabine's directing. Sirius landed on top of Sabine, blowing the hair from his face and surveying her expression. "Are you okay?" he asked quickly.

"Get. Off. Me." Sabine hissed, sighing heavily. "Just my bloody luck, as usual I'm the magnet for this kind of crap." She added, more to herself than Sirius. Their eyes met for a second before he rose quickly and helped her up yet again.

"Promise me you won't hurt yourself anymore before I get you to the hospital wing?" he asked, chuckling nervously. Sabine sighed, hoping against common sense that her face hadn't turned a pinkish color. "I'm really sorry about all this." He said quietly after a long pause.

"I suppose, had I just let you idiots fire off at each other, this could have been prevented." She mumbled bitterly. "However, then I would have missed this gloriously awkward trudge back to the castle." She mused sarcastically. Sirius bit his lip as he shoved the doors open with his shoulder, still managing to balance her on his other arm. "Thank you, by the way, for all this."

"No sweat, McGonagall did make me, after all." He replied without much conviction. Sabine smiled softly. "Your welcome." He added curtly, glancing around quickly to see if anyone was in ear shot to hear it. Once they'd reached the hospital wing, Sirius explained the problems to Madam Pomfrey and laid Sabine carefully onto a bed. He stood beside her, fidgeting with his coat hem, and looking contemplative. "Uh…" he started.

"Sabine! Are you doing alright?" Remus called from the doorway, rushing over. He looked relieved as she nodded. "Sirius, they're waiting for you in Dumbledore's office." He added, cringing a little. Sirius nodded curtly, glancing again at Sabine before he marched out without another word. Remus watched him, brows furrowed, before he turned to Sabine. She was staring at her blanket with great interest.

"Did something happen between you and Sirius?" he asked carefully. He watched Sabine's eyes get wide for a second as she glanced away.

"Ah, well, he did drop me on the way back." She smiled weakly, looking desperate for a response. "Uh, and, well, I did threaten to hex him pretty badly. I think I might have scared him." She laughed nervously, glancing up then back down quickly. Remus nodded, deciding not to push it, and placed Sabine's dress box in her lap. She beamed and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you, Remus." She giggled.

"Mr. Lupin, if you could please refrain from such physical contact in the hospital ward, especially with Ms. Alptraum." Madam Pomfrey's voice snapped from down the row of beds. Remus stood quickly, smiling sheepishly.

"Apparently, I fractured my leg in one of my falls today. It's minor, the Skele-Gro should have it all fixed by the day after tomorrow. Madam Pomfrey has expressed interest in keeping me until the day before the dance." Sabine shook her head. "You'd think the woman had nothing to do at all." Remus laughed and shook his head.

"Well, Sabine, I'd better get back and try to keep the others from killing each other." He sighed. Sabine nodded with a smirk, hugging him once more and watching him leave. She sighed heavily and stared at the ceiling.

"What the hell is going on in my head? Did I bang it when I fell?" she whispered to herself. "Sirius Black? I must be crazy." She sighed before shaking her head and yawning. A nap might help this situation immensely; she thought to herself, it almost always helps.


	5. Stolen glances, Herman, and a dance

_**A/N: Sorry this took a while to get out. I've been typing little bits because it didn't quite come to me as fast. Then, I didn't feel like it would be a good idea to break it off until where I ended up ending it because I thought it seemed too... open? I guess? Anyway, here's chapter 5. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Sabine. The concept, that's mine, Sabine Alptraum is mine, but everything else came from the excessively brilliant mind of a Ms. J.K. Rowling. That lucky wench gets all the good characters.**_

Sirius groaned as he sat up in bed, cringing at the taste of firewhiskey in his mouth from the Marauder's meeting and stretching his arms above his head in a yawn. He threw his legs over the side of his bed and rubbed the sleep from his eye before glaring at the alarm clock on the floor and giving it a kick.

"Even noon is too early." he mumbled as he stumbled towards the bathroom, careful to be quiet as he glanced around to make sure the other Marauders were sleeping sound. He showered and dressed quickly, humming some muggle song he had heard on his last trip into muggle London as he jogged through the dormitory and down the stairs. He was wholly unsurprised to see Sabine reading on the couch.

"Was that 'I'm a Believer' you were humming?" she asked without much interest. Sirius smirked as he threw himself over the back of the couch to sit next to her.

"What are you reading?" Sirius asked brightly, propping his feet up onto the coffee table. Sabine pulled the sleeves of her over sized sweater over her hands as she sighed.

"Someone mentioned that Remus was quite knowledgeable about wizard history so I thought that I'd read up on it before the ball tonight." she said flatly, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear and keeping her eyes on the book in her lap. Sirius smirked knowingly and nodded.

"Trying to impress good old Remus, are you?" he mused suggestively. Sabine snorted and shook her head.

"Yes, of course, I yearn to have his children." she said flatly. Sirius' eyebrows rose and he couldn't help but chuckle. His expression softened as he turned back to the fire before then, occasionally casting inconspicuous glances her way and admiring her messy hair and look of determined concentration. He shook his head quickly and turned back to the fire.

"I'll buy the first cage for the little bastards." Sirius joked, happy to see the corners of Sabine's lips twitch into a smirk.

"You are aware that it's possible for males and females to just be friends, right?" she asked. Sirius looked thoughtful as he scratched his stubbly chin and nodded.

"I'll admit it is possible, but it isn't much fun." he shrugged. Sabine rolled her eyes and sighed before returning to her book. She glanced over to see him smiling and watching the fire burn before them. Her eyes drifted down to his chest and she sighed deeply as her cheeks went warm. She shook her head, looking away quickly and finding herself unable to concentrate. Sirius turned and opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he heard Lily leap over the last three steps of the staircase with a loud 'slap' and sigh victoriously. He turned quickly, happy that she hadn't noticed.

"Sabine, get your nose out of that book, let's get some breakfast." Lily ordered, beaming ear to ear. Sabine rolled her eyes and smirked.

"I'm waiting for Remus, and _lunch_ doesn't start for another half an hour." she chuckled. Lily shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

"So, come with me and make Sev feel like a git for hexing you then not visiting you in the hospital wing." she laughed, stretching her arms above her head and shrugging. Sabine turned to Sirius quickly.

"Would you tell Remus for me?" she asked. Sirius nodded slowly. "Thank you, Sirius." she smiled, hugging him quickly before following Lily out. Sirius watched her retreating back and sighed, letting his head rest on the back of the couch and sighing heavily as he closed his eyes.

"Even at noon it's entirely too early." he mumbled. He cracked his eyes open to see James beaming knowingly above him and he yelped, slugging him in the arm. James laughed and took a seat next to Sirius, raising his eyebrows and grinning at Sirius.

"What was all that about?" he mused. Sirius sighed and crossed his arms tight across his chest, putting on his best look of confused innocence.

"What was all what about, Prongs?" he asked, shrugging.

"What's it too early for, Pads?" James asked. Sirius rested his head on the back of the couch again.

"Consciousness." he said flatly. James laughed and nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer.

"That it is, Pads, that it is." he agreed with a nod. Sirius exhaled in relief and turned back to the fire. He cocked an eyebrow as Remus padded quickly down the stairs and leaped over the edge of the couch, beaming ear to ear as he looked at his friends.

"You certainly are in a good mood, today, Moony. Might it have anything to do with your date for the ball tonight?" James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Remus narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms tight across his chest.

"We covered this last night at the meeting, I do not have romantic feelings for Sabine." he said flatly, turning to face the fire.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." James laughed, sighing contentedly as his friends pouted. "Do you think Lily will dance with me tonight?" he asked whimsically. Sirius snorted.

"Oh, 'course she will, Prongs, right after she accepts your hand in marriage." he sneered. "Promise me one thing: I must be the godfather of your children." he mused sarcastically. James sneered and crossed his arms to match theirs, turning to the fire and glaring. Peter bound down the stairs, stopping suddenly when he saw his friends lining the couch, pouting. His brows furrowed and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Shall we head down to lunch now before we snap at each other anymore?" Remus smiled as he softened. James and Sirius nodded, smiling softly and standing to follow him. Peter stammered in confusion as he watched them leave, shaking his head and running to catch up.

In the great hall, Lily and Sabine had already begun eating and talking excitedly about the ball. Severus hung his head and sat quietly next to Sabine, waiting for her to yell at him.

"Sabine, I'm really sorry that I stupified you." he said after a moment of silence. She turned and smiled kindly, having just noticed him.

"No worries, Sev, I know you meant it to be Black." she chuckled. "However, I'm a little hurt you didn't come visit me." she added. Severus nodded, smiling apologetically. "And, I'd quite appreciate if you didn't try to hex the Marauders anymore. I'm going to make it a rule that if you hex one another that I'd going to punish you any way I see fit." she beamed. Severus laughed, looking quite relieved.

"So, are you excited about the ball tonight?" he asked, taking a muffin and settling comfortably at the Gryffindor table.

"More than I thought I could be." she chuckled.

"Our little Sabine, she's turning into a woman." Lily feigned tears, reaching for Severus' hand. Severus wiped a fake tear away and nodded at her lovingly, reaching to pinch Sabine's cheek. "Oh, Sev, she's a big girl now." Lily wailed jokingly. Sabine scowled, unable to fight the smirk on her face.

"Lily Evans, Severus Snape, I hate you both." Sabine chuckled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "However, if you insist on playing mum and dad, promise me you won't be playing chaperon as well? I plan on getting sloshed with Remus and possibly the others afterwards." Lily pursed her lips in disgust and Severus looked away to avoid watching the two begin to argue.

"You're going to get pregnant." Lily chastised. Sabine spit orange juice all over her plate, choking slightly as she gaped at Lily.

"From firewhiskey?!" she asked incredulously. "I hadn't heard of that side effect."

"You know what I mean." Lily hissed, making a pout. "It's quite stupid to get drunk with four immature boys." she said matter of factly. Sabine's eyebrows rose.

"Oh, I wasn't aware I was attending an orgy." she nodded seriously. "Of course, mum, I'll bring condoms. You git, I'm not a slut." she spat, voice barely above a whisper. Lily crossed her arms in a huff and glared. Sabine returned the glare, suddenly turning to Severus.

"Well, what do you think?" Lily demanded, beating Sabine to it. Severus' eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between them quickly.

"Er, well... that is to say... I..." he stammered. "Lily, Remus is awfully trustworthy, even if the others aren't." he said meekly, cringing in anticipation. "I don't suppose he'd let anything happen to her."

"See?!" Sabine yelped, pointing at Severus and looking Lily in the eye. "Besides that, it isn't as if I can't take care of myself." Lily's eyes narrowed as she sighed in defeat, putting her hands up.

"Alright, fine, but I'm coming, too." she said, wagging her finger in Sabine's face. Sabine laughed and shook her head.

"No, you're not." Sabine said flatly. "I'll not have you complaining of a hangover and blaming me for James flirting with you or, gods forbid, you getting thrown up on." she added, wagging her finger back at Lily. "Severus, back me up here."

"I think I hear Lucius calling me." he said quickly, standing and practically running from the table.

"Coward!" Lily called after him. She looked back at Sabine to see her scowling at her.

"Really, Lily, I'm insulted." she grumbled, crossing her arms and taking an angry bite from her blueberry muffin. Lily softened and sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Sab, I just worry." she smiled weakly. "You know I don't trust them, I just find it hard to think they're very nice." she explained. Sabine softened and nodded.

"I suppose I understand." she sighed. "But you have to understand that if I'm going be friends with them I need to learn whether I can trust them my own way." Lily nodded in defeat, sinking into her seat more as she took a bite of her toast, looking entirely less hungry than she did before. Sabine sighed as she noticed the Marauders sauntering into the great hall. Remus spotted her and jogged over, taking a seat and smiling happily at her. Lily pursed her lips, wagging her finger at Remus.

"If you let anything happen to her tonight while you and your little friends are getting pissed, I swear I'll castrate you myself." she scowled. Remus' eyes went wide and he nodded slowly, looking to Sabine for help.

"What's all this about castration?" Sirius laughed, taking a seat on the other side of Sabine. James and Peter nodded curiously as they sat on either side of Lily.

"Lily's going to castrate you all if anything happens to me tonight." Sabine smiled. James smirked slowly, glancing flirtatiously at Lily, who responded with a look of disgust and annoyance.

"Don't worry, we'll look after her as though she was our sister." Remus assured her. Lily nodded curtly, standing quickly and shuddering.

"I'm leaving, Sev and I were going to sit by the lake." she said quickly, nodding to Sabine. "I'll see you before the ball." she smiled, shooting glares at everyone else and marching towards the exit. James watched her until she was out of sight and sighed heavily, turning to see everyone staring at him.

"What did I miss this time?" he chuckled, eyebrows raising as he looked at Sabine. She cracked a sly smirk.

"You're buying my second love child." she said seriously. "But you'll have to get it from Sirius, he's keeping it in a cage." James laughed and nodded, receiving looks of confusion from Remus and Peter and a look of partial understanding from Sirius.

"Second love child?" Remus asked slowly.

"Do not even ask about the first one, I'm sure it's a sore subject for Hagrid." James said casually. Sabine laughed and nodded, patting him on the shoulder.

"I can only promise that I'll sell ours for more." she said comfortingly.

"What the bloody hell are you nutters talking about?" Sirius yelped finally. James and Sabine laughed and shook their heads.

"Just never you mind." Sabine smiled, checking her watch. "It's only 1:30, I'm going to go read for a while, maybe write a few letters." she shrugged. They nodded and started to eat as she left.

"Alright, now what the hell was all that about?" Sirius demanded, slapping the toast from James' hand and eyeing him expectantly.

Sabine had been reading for two solid hours in complete silence. She closed her book with a sigh and looked around the empty common room. Finally, she grabbed a quill and a spare bit of parchment before sitting on the large windowsill with a sigh.

_Rich-_

_Well, tonight is the Halloween Ball. Unlike all the other time's I've written before a ball, I'm actually attending this one. I'm sure you remember all the times I've talked about the Marauders and how much Lily and Sev hate them. Surprise! I'm going to the dance with the only nice one, Remus Lupin. I got a really pretty dress from Gladrags, in Hogsmeade... not that that really means a lot to you, or anything. Anyway, I just got rather tired of reading since I'm sitting alone in the common room right now, I thought I'd send you a note. I miss you. Oh! Remus is coming with me on Christmas break. Hope that's alright. He's a nice guy. The other Marauders may show up. We're friends now. I'm sorry if this is really erratic, my mind is elsewhere at the moment. No, not on Remus. He's like you, only straight. It happens to be on another boy. Shut up. Anyway... give my love to mum and dad if you happen to talk to them._

_Love,_

_Sabine_

_P.S. Would you mind sending some hairspray and mousse with your response note? My owl Herman is quite large enough to carry the parcel. Thank you._

Sabine finished writing with a sigh and ran up to change her clothes. She slipped her coat on, shoving her letter into her pocket and exited the common room on her way to the owlery. She climbed the stairs quickly, squinting against the cold wind and stepped quickly into the cold, dirty open owlery.

"Herman, come here." she sang, whistling and holding out her arm for him to land. The large, rather old looking brown owl rested on her forearm, clicking his beak and waiting dutifully. "Here you go, Herman. Now you take this to Rich, you know where he is." she mused, attaching the note to his leg and giving him a treat. "You wait until he gives you a response before you come back, alright?" she asked. He hooted and clicked his beak in response, receiving a nod before he flew off. Sabine watched him and smiled to herself. "Oh, he is most certainly going to love that one." she chuckled to herself as she left, headed back to the common room to kill time reading.

By 7:00 p.m., Sabine and Lily were bustling about their dorm, last ones in line to get ready. Both had showered and Sabine was putting her dress on while Lily ran around trying to find accessories.

"I'm going to do my make-up, Lily." Sabine beamed, feeling her cheeks flush in nervous anticipation. Lily nodded, grunting in agreement as she searched her trunk for her purse. "You'll help me with my hair, right?" she called from the bathroom, carefully applying eyeshadow.

"Yeah, 'course I will." Lily answered, still rummaging. "Have you see my little green bag?"

" Lil, it's on your nightstand." Sabine chuckled, shaking her head.

"You little bugger, you were hiding from me." Lily chastised it, stuffing a handkerchief and various other items into it. She sighed as she stepped into the bathroom, surveying Sabine and nodding approvingly. "Right, now that I'm all finished, lets see about that mop you call hair." she joked. Sabine stuck her tongue out at her and tapped her foot.

"My brother still hasn't sent me any mousse or hairspray yet." she mumbled. Lily cocked an eyebrow.

"Sabine, relax, you sent an old owl to Ireland, it may take a bit." she chuckled, shaking her head and grabbing what she referred to as her 'heavy duty hair kit'. Twenty minutes and an uncountable number of hairpins later, Sabine had a rather nice looking up-do. She had her usual bangs and ponytail, but her hair was more smooth and pieces of it hung in loose curly tendrils. Lily beamed with pride.

"Looks nice, Lil." Sabine nodded, checking different angles in the mirror. "I think I look better than I ever have." she chuckled, double checking her make-up and then smiling ear to ear.

"Shall we? Our dates await." Lily said excitedly, grabbing Sabine's arm and dragging her towards the stairs. "How do those heels feel?"

"Unnatural and uncomfortable, just like they should." Sabine replied. Lily laughed and nodded.

"Good, then, your feet aren't numb yet." she said brightly, handing Sabine her own purse and stopping for a second in the common room. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes mum, I went before we left." Sabine said flatly, rolling her eyes. Lily slugged her in the arm and grabbed her wrist again. Sabine pulled away just outside the painting and laughed at Lily's manic expression. "Will you relax? I've been to a ball before, I went with a boy from my home town, don't get so excitable." she laughed. Lily sighed, let her shoulders loosen. "Everything will go fine between you and Severus tonight." she added, smirking as she looked at Lily levelly.

"Shut up, you, come on." Lily huffed, cheeks turning pink as she marched towards the Great Hall. Lily stopped abruptly at the top of the small staircase and grinned ear to ear. Sabine glanced down at smirked. Severus smiled, wide eyed, up at Lily. He was wearing a black suit with green pin striping, a green vest, and a green tie with a white shirt. He ran up the stairs, kissing Lily on the cheek and placing an arm around her shoulder. He smiled warmly at Sabine.

"You girls look lovely." he sighed contentedly. Sabine nodded distractedly, searching the crowd ahead for Remus. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see him smiling down at her.

"Severus. Lily." he nodded kindly. They smiled back and walked quickly down the stairs. "You look gorgeous." Remus smiled, bending to kiss Sabine on the cheek. She blushed and shrugged.

"Thank you, you look quite dashing yourself." she giggled, finding it hard to believe that she was actually having a girly moment. "Oh, I owled my brother and let him know you were coming with me this Christmas." she smiled. Remus nodded, extending his arm for her to take. She laced her arm through his, descending the stairs slowly.

"Shall we go find a table and talk?" he asked. Sabine nodded, choosing not to speak for fear that she might squeal at the newness of it all.

"Oi, Alptraum, you looked polished to a shine." James laughed, patting Remus on the shoulder. Sabine rolled her eyes but blushed nonetheless.

"That'll be all James." Remus smiled, irritation obvious on his face. "Lily is here." he added. James walked away suddenly, searching the crowds. "He's hopeless."

"Yeah, the opposite sex will do that to you." Sabine chuckled. Remus nodded thoughtfully, glancing around the floor.

"So, I read a good poem by Emily Dickinson today." he smiled. Sabine laughed.

"That's interesting, I read a lovely book on Godric Gryffindor just yesterday."she smiled. Remus laughed and nodded.

"Seems we both did homework." he chuckled, shaking his head. "I wanted to be able to carry on a conversation about muggle and literary subjects."

"And I had heard you were a wizard history buff." she laughed. Remus shook his head and smiled. Sabine felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Severus beaming down at her.

"Mind if I dance with your date, Remus." he asked, bowing a little. Remus laughed and shook his head.

"Go right ahead." he chuckled, raising his glass as Sabine stood.

Sirius sunk a little in his seat as he watched Snivellus pull Sabine onto the floor and twirl her. The girl that had seated herself across the table from him was still talking as if she hadn't noticed that he hadn't made a sound in fifteen minutes. His eyes narrowed when Snivellus dipped her, receiving a laugh from Sabine before Lily broke in, passing Sabine on to Remus. He sighed heavily and knew he was making a pout.

"Sirius Black, are you listening to me?" the girl across from him demanded. His eyes shot to hers and he nodded vehemently. She smiled a little too quickly and continued talking. He instantly knew that this was going to be a long night.


	6. Arguments, Confusion and Firewhiskey

**A/N: So this chapter was like, eating my soul, for a while. I had trouble pounding out the details about it but I think it came out rather nicely. I think some things are starting to present themselves subtly and I like that just fine. I recently received a bit of extra pressure about getting chapters out now that I found out a friend from high school likes fanfics. I let her read it and she told me she loves it. Anyway, no one cares about the author lol. On to the story!**

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"What do you say we take a walk? The dance is getting rather boring and there is only a half hour left." Lily suggested as they approached their table once again, watching a few students filing out and a few still dancing with their dates. Remus looked to see Sabine's reaction. She shrugged and nodded, grabbing her bag and lacing an arm through Remus' as he bowed.

"Remus, stop being a gentleman." Sabine joked. Remus laughed and shrugged apologetically.

"Pardon me, Miss Alptraum." he said politely, bowing again. Sabine chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just not that kind of girl, Remus." she said over dramatically, placing her wrist to her forehead and sighing heavily. "I'm stealing Lily's date, now." she giggled, running forward and taking Severus' arm. Lily feigned a pout and grabbed Remus' arm as he laughed. "Sev, you were always so handsome, anyway." she chuckled.

"Ah, I always thought you were more fun than Lily." he laughed.

"Oi, I heard that." Lily chuckled, smacking him in the arm playfully. They continued laughing and dancing around, Severus twirling Sabine and Remus dipping Lily. They finally stepped outside the castle and Sabine sighed happily as she looked up at the stars. Severus placed an arm around her shoulder and smiled. Lily and Remus were in a deep conversation about Professor Slughorn and his potions class.

"Do you think we'll always be friends, Sabine?" Severus asked with a sigh as he watched the stars, occasionally glancing at Lily and smiling deeply. Sabine chuckled and nudged him, quite used to him asking such questions.

"Of course we will, Sev." she smiled. "You and Lil are like family to me." she said, pulling him into a hug.

"Hey, Sab, Sev, we're both getting cold and tired, care to head back to the common room?" Lily asked, shivering. Sev looked at Sabine and shrugged.

"I'm fine out here, I'd like to look at the stars a bit more." Sev responded. Sabine nodded.

"I think I'll just stay and talk to Sev for a bit before heading back." she shrugged. Lily nodded and Remus placed his jacket on Sabine's shoulder.

"Don't catch cold, you two." he chuckled, waving as he and Lily headed back, continuing their discussion.

"Remus is quite the gentleman." Sev smirked suggestively. Sabine slugged him in the arm playfully and laughed. "I'm merely pointing out..."

"Yes, I know, Lily." Sabine said pointedly, sticking her tongue out at him. "He's becoming like another brother to me, just like you." she sighed. "I get the feeling that he feels a little protective of me. I'm sure that's because he was an only child."

"He certainly is rather nice." Sev agreed, still staring at the sky like Sabine was.

"Isn't a bit cold to be out here? It's almost curfew." Sirius asked pointedly from the doorway. Sabine's eyebrows rose as she turned to face him.

"We were just talking, Sirius. We still have over fifteen minutes before the dance ends." she sighed, turning back around and rolling her eyes. "Why don't you just head back to the common room, Remus just left for there." she suggested, hoping he wasn't going to cause any trouble.

"Are you sure you're safe out here with that slimy goon?" he sneered. Severus narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't aware that you'd finally accepted that fact about yourself, Black." he drawled, obviously placing his hand on his wand. Sirius chuckled slowly and shook his head. "Can't you just leave us alone? We were trying to talk in peace." Severus grumbled, turning his back on him and placing an arm around Sabine's shoulder. He could tell she was angry, her eye had begun to twitch and she was gritting her teeth.

"I don't care what you wanted to do, I don't trust you." Sirius said indignantly, shifting his weight to his other foot and crossing his arms tighter. Sabine turned and pointed at the castle, obviously incensed at his attitude.

"You leave us alone or I'm going to hurt you in ways you never imagined." she raised her eyebrows threateningly and placed her other hand on her hip as she took on her signature stance. Her eyes narrowed and her blood boiled as he chuckled in response. Severus raised his wand from beside her and tapped his foot. Sirius raised his quickly. "Langlock!" Sabine yelled, happy she had remembered Severus' spell. Sirius' eyes went wide when he realized that his tongue had fused to the roof of his mouth. "You would think that after once, you'd have learned something." she chastised, slipping her wand into her bag and hugging Severus. "I'm going to take him back to the common room if I have to levitate his snarky ass. I'll tell Lily you love her, Sev." she added, exchanging chaste kisses on the cheeks and walking towards Sirius.

"Goodnight, Sab." Severus called, a smirk obvious in his voice. She waved as she grabbed Sirius by the collar and pulled him through the door.

"Care to tell me why you felt it necessary to ruin my conversation with Sev?" she asked, smirking as Sirius cocked an eyebrow and pouted. "I rarely get to see him, as he and Lily are almost always off being a cute couple by the lake." Sirius raised his chin, watching the windows and looking something vaguely akin to ashamed. Sabine rolled her eyes and muttered the counter curse once they'd reached the rotating stairs and angrily shoved her wand back into her bag, tapping her foot and waiting for a response. "Well?" she demanded,

"I don't much care for the likes of Snivellus." Sirius said quickly, keeping his lips pursed and his eyes anywhere but on Sabine.

"Don't call him Snivellus." she said warningly. Sirius grunted in response, stopping in front of the Fat Lady and chewing his bottom lip in thought. The Fat Lady remained silent and watched the two of them with great interest. "He didn't even do anything to you today." she yelped.

"He's dating Lily and James likes her." Sirius responded coldly. Sabine raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"Did the fact that James was dancing with Sylvia Mortimer, that third year Ravenclaw you were sitting with, completely escape your attention?" Sabine asked as though he was a child. Sirius clenched his jaw and shook his head in the negative. "Obviously he didn't let him bother him, unless it was a brilliant ploy." she said sarcastically. She threw her hands in the air in defeat and sighed, shaking her head and stepping forward to address the Fat Lady, who was smiling innocently. "Butterbeer." she said flatly. The painting swung open slowly, letting them pass through before closing with a creak. Sabine flopped onto the couch between Remus and James and sighed, glaring at Sirius as he flopped into an armchair and glared at the fire.

"Are we ready to start celebrating?" James asked, brows furrowing in confusion. "Though it seems obvious that you two are entirely too happy to begin with." he said slowly, pouring a shot of firewhiskey. Sabine grabbed it and downed it, welcoming the heat as it burned through her. Remus chuckled and patted her on the shoulder as she pounded the shot glass onto the coffee table with a sigh of relief.

"I'll have another, please." she smiled sweetly, licking her lips and settling back into the couch. Remus shook his head at James.

"If you're upset, its a bad idea." Remus said softly. "Perhaps we should just turn in." he suggested. Sabine scoffed and looked at him like he'd gone crazy.

"Who's upset? I'm not upset." Sabine said quickly, shooting another glare at Sirius before snatching the bottle of firewhiskey from James. She put her lips around the mouth of the bottle and with a sigh, she tipped it back, taking a long drink. James chuckled nervously as she handed it back to him, shivering a little as the heat went through her in waves. "Ah, now I feel better." she smiled lopsidedly, loosening up a little. Sirius clenched his jaw again and raised his chin as he glanced over at her inconspicuously.

"I thought you said you weren't upset." Sirius said pointedly, cocking an eyebrow as he turned towards Sabine. Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms tight across her chest.

"I lied, so sue me." she said flatly. Sirius sneered at her, feeling both pride and shame at her reaction. He shifted in his seat and sighed, staring at the fire for a moment.

"I'm going to bed." he mumbled, brushing past them quickly and running up the stairs.

"What the bloody hell crawled up his ass and died?" James snorted once he heard the door slam.

"I was out talking to Severus after Lily and Remus left and he came outside and acted like a total goon." Sabine sighed, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "I used the Langlock hex that Sev taught me, which fuses your target's tongue to the roof of their mouth, because they both raised their wands. Sev raised his in defense because Sirius was acting like his snarky self, the way he does before he's going to fire off a hex and then get smug about it." she grumbled, motioning for the bottle. James shook his head and held it away from her.

"I'll not have you getting drunk and then stewing in your own anger." he wagged his finger at her, his voice turning quite fatherly all of a sudden. Sabine pouted and slumped back into the couch, looking to Remus for help. He shook his head in response. James banished the bottle back to it's hiding spot under his bed. "I have no idea why he would act like that. At the Marauder's meeting last night, we talked about how we were going to try to avoid fighting with Severus because one, you had asked us to, and two, because, er, it would help me get on Lily's good side." he finished, turning pink and looking down at the last part. Sabine chuckled and smiled gratefully.

"Maybe Sirius just honestly dislikes Severus that much. It always seems like they've hated one another more than you hated him." Sabine said reasonably. James shook his head.

"I never really hated Severus." he said quietly, smiling sheepishly. "I suppose it was more jealousy than anything."

"Either way, I was quite glad you see you dancing with Sylvia." Sabine smirked, nudging him playfully. James laughed and nodded.

"I asked her to Madam Pudifoot's next weekend." he grinned. Remus clapped him on the shoulder and laughed. "She agreed rather quickly."

"There you go, James." Remus chuckled. "Enjoy some alone time with your new love interest, get your mind off Lily."

"Actually I was kind of hoping you two would double with us." he chuckled nervously.

"To Madam Pudifoot's? Ha!" Sabine shook her head. "There is no way I'm stepping foot into that cherub infested love nest." Remus laughed and nodded agreeably.

"I've got to agree with Sabine on this one. Besides, I'm sure I speak for both of us when I say I'd rather avoid the rumors that would entail." Sabine nodded furiously.

"I've enough trouble dealing with you lot insinuating that Remus and I have something going on." Sabine said sternly, smirking as she leaned into Remus as he placed an arm across her shoulder casually. James laughed an raised his eyebrows, pointing at Remus's arm.

"Right, because that kind of activity shows everyone the staunch friendship you both share." he said in mock seriousness. Sabine and Remus laughed as she patted his knee. "You both get some kind of strange enjoyment out of this, don't you?" he laughed.

"You've no idea, James." Remus laughed, resting his head on Sabine's. She laughed heartily and shook her head at James' expression of annoyance.

"You're both horrible people." James said flatly, shaking his head. "I'm going to bed to try to calm Sirius down." Sabine snickered. "Shut up, you." he raised his eyebrows and pointed at her, unable to fight the smirk on his face. "Night, lovebirds." James joked, kicking Sabine's foot playfully before jogging up the stairs.

"D'you really think it's a bad idea joining James and Sylvia at Madam Pudifoot's?" Remus asked, linking his fingers behind his head. Sabine stretched and placed her feet carefully onto his lap after she kicked her shoes off. She shrugged and shook her head.

"Not totally sure, I mean, people are going to get the wrong idea about us either way and James did seem awfully nervous." she sighed. "However, I'd rather not deal with people talking more about me now than they already are. I mean, honestly, ever since I let Lily gussy me up and got hexed all to hell in Hogsmeade, people are looking at me like I'm more strange than before." she finished with a chuckle. Remus nodded thoughtfully. "The fact that we went to the ball together is only going to speed up that particular bit of juicy gossip."

"So we're going?" Remus asked with a lopsided smirk. Sabine laughed and nodded in defeat.

"I suppose we should, James will likely need a little support in his pursuit of a girl other than Lily Evans." she laughed. Remus nodded agreeably and checked his watch.

"It's nice having these wonderful moments with you, Sabine, but it's past my bedtime." Remus yawning, shoving her feet off with a thump. Sabine laughed and punched his arm playfully.

"Night, Remus." she sighed, waving slightly as he headed up the stairs. She crinkled her nose in mild annoyance as she glanced down at her dress and realized she'd have to take a quick shower and change before she actually went to bed. "I'm not even drunk, I still have to shower, and for some reason, Sirius is being a total twat to me. Merlin, I sure as hell hope tomorrow is a better day." she mumbled to herself as she shook her head and stood reluctantly. She grabbed her shoes and padded quickly up the stairs, totally unsurprised to find the other girls in her dormitory awake. There was a collectively suggestive 'Ooo' that washed over the room as she threw her shoes onto her bed and rubbed her neck. "Don't any of you girls start with me." she mumbled, walking straight to the bathroom and slamming the door. After showering and dressing quickly she stepped out and sighed, rather annoyed to find them still awake.

"So, Sabine, how was your date this evening?" Bonnie McBride, a fellow Gryffindor fourth year with a penchant for gossip, mused from her bed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and giggling with the other girls.

"Remus? Oh, he was lovely. We're getting married and I'm going to have ten million of his babies." Sabine mocked their girly speech and rolled her eyes. Bonnie crossed her arms and pouted, glaring at her as she slipped under the covers of her bed. Lily chuckled and shook her head.

"I take it that means he didn't want to snog you?" Bonnie asked pointedly, raising her eyebrows and obviously wishing to start a fight. Sabine rolled her eyes.

"And I take it that you probably locked yourself in a closet with Lucius Malfoy and had your girly way with him?" she asked flatly.

"Oi, I wouldn't snog that slimy git if you paid me." Bonnie yelped indignantly, standing threateningly."You take that back."

"Oh, shut up, McBride, and go to bed." Sabine grumbled. "I got into a fight with that moron, Black, and I am in no mood. To be perfectly clear and final about it, Remus Lupin and I are friends, nothing more." she said firmly. Bonnie raised her chin and narrowed her eyes as she glared at Sabine before nodding curtly and slipping back under her own covers. "I apologize for my crack about Malfoy." she added.

"Thanks." Bonnie softened. "I'm sorry, too." she added quickly and flatly.

"G'night, guys." Sabine sighed, punching her pillow and wrapping her blanket tight around her shoulders. She chewed her bottom lip, and furrowed her brows in thought as she stared at the wall, confused about her fight with Sirius. What the bloody hell was wrong with him tonight? she thought to herself. She shook the thoughts from her head and drifted slowly to sleep, irritated by the bubbly conversations going on around her.


	7. Bloody Hell, Detention Again

_AN: So, yeah... I know this chapter took a bit and all... but... well, life kinda has a way of interfering with writing and that more or less pissin' me right the f--- off. Anyhoo, my new hamsters, Moony and Padfoot say hello! They enjoy running on their wheel and... biting one another as they chase each other and leap about in attempts to escape. Anyway, thank you to those that read and review. I only wish I had more reviewers. -hint hint- Bah, here's chapter 7, enjoy._

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Sabine covered her eyes and cringed against the sunlight filtering through the room. She glanced at the windowsill to see Herman, her owl, preening his feathers, a rather large parcel sitting under him. She shot from her bed, and padded quietly across the room, watching to see if she woke anyone, and opened the window. She untied the string that attached Herman to the package and gently patted his head. He hooted appreciatively before taking off towards the owlery. She closed the window and padded back to her bed, package in hand, shoving her already freezing feet beneath the covers once again. Slowly, she opened the letter and began to read with a smirk. Her older brother was the only family member she talked to regularly and that had everything to do with the fact that he was the only person that really had a grasp on who she really was.

_Sabine,_

Thanks ever so much for sending me this screeching bird to my flat, I was having a "guest" over and trying to explain a carrier owl was ever so fun! I am sending along with the rat with wings the hair products you requested, though I am exceptionally shocked you are attending a dance. I pictured you more likely to be sitting on the floor of your room reading Dickinson and Poe, totally drunk and cursing at the girls as they return.

I have no problem with your friend coming back with you as long as he doesn't mind a host with a little extra "cheer" in his step if you get my meaning. I will pass along your love to our parents when I see them next, but that will be when pigs fly. Do you magical people have some sort of flying pig creatures? If you do, I am guessing they are used as taxis or something, I don't know, you are the magical one after all. Well, do have fun at your party and stay out of trouble.

With Love,  
Rich  


Sabine chuckled and smirked as she refolded the letter. She suddenly realized that she hadn't explained her brother to Remus or the other Marauders for that matter. She slipped the letter into her nightstand drawer and threw her feet over the side of her bed, shoving them into her tattered bunny slippers and padding to the common room. She sighed happily to see it empty and thought that, being earlier than anyone usually got up on a Monday before classes, she could finally get into reading her book. She flopped onto the couch and waved her wand to start the fire.

"Good morning." Remus yawned from behind her. Sabine sighed and threw her book across the room into a chair with a frustrated growl.

"Bloody hell, I will never be able to read that book, will I?" she grumbled, whining and leaning over onto the arm of the couch. Remus chuckled and sat down next to her on the couch, smiling cheerfully and poking her side.

"Your owl woke me up." he chuckled. "I had to get up and shoo it towards your window." Remus feigned a pout.

"Herman never was a bright owl." Sabine laughed, stretching her arms above her head with a great yawn.

"I assume that you got a letter back from your brother, then?" Remus asked. Sabine nodded awkwardly. "What did he have to say about my visiting?"

"He's totally fine with it." she replied reluctantly. "However, I did realize that I hadn't told you much about him." Remus nodded for her to continue. "Well, Remus, my brother is gay." she said slowly and quietly, fidgeting with her shirt hem and watching him for a reaction.

"Sabine, there is a war going on out there and I happen to be on the side of the non-pure bloods and you thought that might perhaps offend me? That doesn't matter to me." Remus smiled warmly, his tone fatherly. Sabine exhaled deeply in relief and smiled weakly.

"You never can tell what people are going to get hung up on lately, Remus." she shrugged, looking at him apologetically. "Think the others will react the same way if they stop by?"

"Oh, of course." Remus nodded assuringly. "James and Peter don't care about things like that and Sirius' Uncle Alphard was gay, or so goes the family rumor." he chuckled. Sabine nodded and sighed, glancing at the clock.

"Well, I suppose I should go get ready, Transfiguration is in an hour and Lily is likely already awake and waiting to dress me again." she laughed, standing and yawning. She passed him and ruffled his hair. "See you soon."

Half an hour later, Sabine and Lily shuffled quickly down the stairs, bags in hand as they bustled through the busy common room. Sabine rolled her eyes and smirked as they passed the Marauders, who were furiously comparing and copying one another's homework. Lily tugged Sabine through the painting and ran quickly towards Professor McGonagall's room.

"I told Remus about my brother." Sabine sighed once they'd taken their seats at the front of the room. Lily's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Well, you know, I thought I should if he was going to be spending Christmas with us."

"I wasn't aware that he was." Lily smirked suggestively. "That should be awfully nice." she chuckled.

"Oh, shut up, you." Sabine laughed. "I'm just glad he was fine with it." she sighed, taking out a bit of parchment and a quill for notes as the other students filed in. Remus followed James and Sirius in and waved at Sabine as he approached her.

"Care to study in the library after Potions today?" he asked. Sabine shrugged and nodded.

"Sure, sounds good." she smiled, turning back to Lily, who had raised her eyebrows and was smirking uncontrollably. "Don't say a word." Sabine warned with a grin. "You know better."

"Sorry, I just think its funny." Lily laughed, shaking her head.

"You're going to study in the library with Sabine?" Sirius asked flatly as he took his seat and glanced towards Sabine. Remus nodded as he took a seat next to Peter, right next to Sirius and James' table. "Why?"

"Well, besides the fact that study does wonders at ensuring good marks, I thought it'd be a good chance for me to get an idea on a Christmas gift for her and her brother." Remus laughed, opening his book and yawning. Sirius' eyebrows furrowed and he stammered a bit.

"Christmas gift? For her brother?" he asked incredulously. "Why the bloody hell would you buy her brother a Christmas gift?" Sirius shook his head vigorously.

"I thought I'd mentioned it, I'm spending Christmas with them." Remus shrugged casually. James, Peter and Sirius gaped at him. "Well, you three are invited as well, she must have forgotten to mention it. Either that, or she's having a bit of trouble." he added thoughtfully. Sirius nodded slowly and sighed as McGonagall swept into the room.

"Alright, everyone, open up your books to page two-hundred-sixty-three." McGonagall announced, standing in front of her desk. "Today, we shall be discussing and practicing the many defensive transfiguration spells that every witch and wizard should know."

After their morning classes, Sabine and Lily sauntered to the Great Hall for lunch. Sabine flopped heavily at the end of table, dropping her bag on the floor and resting her head in her hands with an exasperated sigh.

"Bloody hell, how can they think that that much homework is not too much?" Lily mumbled, angrily shoveling salad onto a plate. Sabine poured them both glasses of pumpkin juice and rubbed her eyes. "Honestly, _that_ much parchment on such trivial subject matter is pointless. Is it really so useful to know anything about tarot cards?" she spat disdainfully.

"Oh, how about McGonagall?" Sabine asked, eyes heavy from lack of sleep. "Aren't animagi more of a Dark Arts subject?" she sighed. Lily nodded vigorously as she ate. Sabine shook her head and began to eat, glancing around the room to see the Marauders coming her way. "You may want to eat quickly if you don't want to eat with James." she smirked. Lily sighed, mouth full of food, as she looked pleadingly at her plate.

"I suppose I'll just ignore him." Lily sighed heavily, digging in hungrily.

"Good plan, Lil." Sabine chuckled as Remus took a seat next to her.

"So, uh, Sabine, you realize you never invited them, right?" Remus whispered inconspicuously. She glanced up to see the other three watching her expectantly as Remus glanced around innocently.

"You three bumbling oafs are spending Christmas with me in Ireland at my brothers place." she said flatly. James laughed and shook his head.

"I'll let my mum know that I've got orders to do so." he snorted, smirking and shaking his head. "I'm sure she won't mind." he added with a shrug.

"I doubt I'll be able to come, my mum is pretty strict about spending Christmas at home." Peter said apologetically. Sabine nodded.

"I suppose I should add that my brother is... well, gay." she said nervously. James and Sirius shrugged.

"I told you it wouldn't bother them." Remus sang.

"Why would it?" Sirius asked. Sabine smiled sheepishly.

"Well, you can't ever tell what people might be offended by, nowadays." she said defensively. Lily popped her head up, having eaten furiously so she could finish faster. She sighed heavily and stood.

"Well, I'm going to go find Severus." she announced before skittering away quickly.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" James frowned. Sabine shook her head.

"No, I think it's more that you frighten her with your obsession." she laughed. "But, no more. Sylvia, Remus and I are going to see that you move on on our double date this weekend."

"Double date?" Peter asked in confusion.

"Yeah, James asked if Remus and I would double with him on his date to Madam Pudifoot's." Sabine explained. "I figured it would be nice if we went for moral support."

"We discussed it and, though both of us loathe the place and we know the rumors will begin to fly, we're going for James' sake." Remus explained as he stood from the table. "Well, shall we head to Defense Against the Dark Arts now?" Everyone nodded reluctantly and followed him from the Great Hall.

A few hours later, Sabine shuffled into the library to wait for Remus. She quietly dropped her things on a table and took a seat, rifling through her bag to find her Transfiguration book. Remus strode in with a smile and took a seat across from her, opening his book and pulling out a quill.

"Merlin, I'm exhausted." Sabine yawned quietly. Remus chuckled and shook his head. "I'm going to sleep so well tonight." she sighed, glancing over the subject matter she was dreading writing about.

"Well, lucky for us, it's getting closer to holiday." Remus smiled. Sabine shook her head.

"After such little sleep, how is it possible that you remain cheerful?" she laughed. Remus smiled and reached below his robe, extending a chocolate frog towards her. "Really, chocolate, that is your secret?" Sabine smirked. He shrugged and nodded.

"It really does solve most problems." Remus laughed as Sabine carefully opened the package. She quickly grabbed the frog and bit into it. "So, what would you like for Christmas?" he asked.

"Remus, you don't have to get me anything." Sabine smiled kindly, shaking her head.

"I know I don't, but I'm going to." Remus laughed. "So, what would you like?"

"Peace and music to permeate through the wizarding world and a giant chocolate cake." she laughed. Remus nodded in feigned thought.

"The first might be a bit hard." he said seriously as he could. Sabine rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Well, what would you like?" she countered, raising her eyebrows.

"I suppose I would like some chocolate." he laughed. Sabine smacked his arm playfully before sighing heavily.

"Time to study?" she asked mournfully. Remus nodded sadly and they began to read.

"So, I suppose that writing about conjuring spells shouldn't be too hard." Remus sighed after an hour of silent reading. Sabine nodded in relief as she closed her book. "Good then, shall we head to the common room to relax? I'm sure you'd like to get to bed early." Sabine nodded gratefully and followed him from the library. "So, have you gotten a chance to talk to Sirius at all about last night?"

"No, I can't say I have." Sabine frowned bitterly, shuffling along beside him as she watched her feet. "He's such an immature little child sometimes." she sighed. Remus patted her shoulder comfortingly as they climbed the stairs that led to the moving staircase.

"Perhaps he had a little firewhiskey before hand?" he offered, sounding as hopeful as she felt. "You know as well as I do that he has poor self control over things like that."

"I just wish he could act like a human rather than a rabid dog, sometimes." Sabine mumbled. Her brows furrowed as she heard Remus chuckle. She glanced up quickly to see him fight a smirk and watched the paintings innocently. "It's not funny, he really does act like an angry little puppy, sometimes, Remus!" she yelped indignantly. Remus winced and nodded slowly, obviously quite successful at hiding the laughter this time.

"Give him a chance." he shrugged as he stopped before the Fat Lady's painting. She beamed kindly at the two, eyebrows wiggling suggestively. "Oh, surely not you as well, Fat Lady." Remus groaned. Sabine cocked an eyebrow.

"Fat Lady, who did you hear it from?" she demanded.

"I overheard that chatty McBride girl giggling about it with her friends." she said in an obviously feigned shame. Sabine's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Butterbeer." she scathed. The Fat Lady squeaked as she swung open quickly, allowing them to pass without another word. Sabine pushed though the students that were making to leave and glared menacingly around the common room. "Where is that gossiping twat, McBride!" she demanded.

"Oi, I'm right here you loon." Bonnie spat, standing from her spot at the wizard chess table and crossing her arms tight. "Your certainly wrapped tight tonight." she huffed. Sabine let out a low growl as she glared scathingly at Bonnie.

"Your gaping maw of a mouth is what wrapped me so tight." Sabine spat back at her, pointing suddenly towards the exit. "The Fat Lady said she heard you motor mouthing on about Remus and I." she accused. Bonnie stammered for a second before raising her chin and glancing Sabine over appraisingly.

"So?" she challenged. Sabine's eyes went wide. She felt anger rise in her chest and she took a step forward.

"So?" she repeated. "So, you know it isn't true!" Sabine yelled. By now she had begun to noticed the other Gryffindors were either creeping from the room slowly or watching in either shock or amusement.

"Well," Bonnie smirked in self satisfaction. "it isn't as though you shouldn't be grateful for that kind of a rumor spreading." The self righteous tone made Sabine's eye twitch as she raised her wand.

"Furnunculus." Sabine called, happy as the blue jet from her wand hit Bonnie directly in the face.

"Merlin's beard, you loon!" she yelped, hands flying towards her face. "What the blood hell was that?!" Bonnie shrieked.

"That, McBride, was karma and justice all rolled into one." Sabine grinned. Remus winced as one of the boils that had grown suddenly, burst.

"What is the meaning of this?!" McGonagall's voice demanded as she rushed through the entry hallway.

"Bloody hell, I forgot about her." Sabine cursed herself under her breath and shoved her wand away in a futile attempt at playing innocent.

"Miss Alptraum, Miss McBride, and I am wholly unsurprised to see you, Mr. Lupin." McGonagall scathed, hands firm on her hips as she searched their faces, demanding an explaination. "Why on earth is Miss McBride covered in boils?" she demanded of Sabine, looking as though she already knew.

"I... er, that is to say... well... She started it!" Sabine said defensively, pointing at Bonnie and making a pout. McGonagall's eyebrow rose dangerously as she nodded.

"I see, well, being that I was told you were the one firing off hexes at fellow students I doubt that she will be the one receiving a detention." McGonagall chastised. "What on earth possessed you?"she asked rhetorically. "You, Miss Alptraum, will be reporting to my classroom tomorrow directly after class."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall." Sabine sighed defeatedly. McGonagall gave a curt nod, surveyed the room once more and marched out in a huff. Sabine flopped onto the couch as the room cleared out, annoyed by the chatter as she crossed her arms tight across her chest. Sirius and James sat on either side of her, grinning wide.

"I told you you should become a Marauder." James sang, patting her shoulder.

"Looks like you and I have detention together." Sirius smiled weakly, turning his attention away quickly.

"Oh, bloody hell." Sabine sighed, slumping forward and screaming into her knees.


	8. Bellatrix, Ireland, Holiday's Begun

AN: So my computer died and I lost like... four pages of this but I got it all redone and such. I've had to work on the family computer which sucks royally but what can ya do? Anyway, without any further delay, here ya go. I've been trying to spread my time evenly between this and AmAur&Wer but this is my favorite so far. Here ya go!

* * *

Sabine sat contentedly on the couch, reading the book she'd started reading before the Halloween Ball. She glanced at the clock, happy to see she'd have two hours to finish it before she and Remus would be heading to the Great Hall to leave. She propped her feet up in her almost bulging, poorly packed trunk and bit her lip in thought as she mentally checked items off the list of things she wanted to take with her. Satisfied that she didn't feel as though anything was missing, she sunk back into her chair and lost herself in the book once again.

"What is it with you and books?" Remus laughed as he dragged his trunk down the stairs. Sabine held up a finger to silence him as she finished the last paragraph. With a happy sigh, she closed the book and tossed it onto the couch.

"I'll reread that when we get back." she smiled. "And books and I have a secret love affair, don't tell my quill and parchment." she nodded seriously. Remus nodded slowly and patted her shoulder.

"Your secret is safe with me." he laughed before shrinking her trunk and tucking it neatly in his pocket and doing the same to his own. "Did James and Sirius ever say when they'd be coming?"

"No, not officially, they haven't. James mentioned that his mother and father would like to spend some time but not long. He never really specified how much 'some' was, but that's James for you, isn't it?" Sabine shrugged. Remus chuckled and nodded. "Anyway, I told them it didn't matter when they showed."

"C'mon, let's go have some lunch before we leave." Remus said, barely able to hide his excitement. Sabine rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the smirk that tugged the corners of her mouth. "C'mon, c'mon, I'm anxious to get out of here." he laughed, grabbing Sabine's hand and pulling her from her chair. She sighed heavily and glanced at the clock, happy to see that they only have 20 minutes before they'd be the Great Hall for Hogsmeade Station. "So how exactly are we getting to your brother's again?" he asked as they stepped through the painting.

"There's a wizard's candy shop a mile from my brother's place that let's me floo in during visits, we'll floo from one of the public fireplaces in Diagon Alley. He should be waiting outside the one in Ireland by the time we get there." Sabine explained, stopping at the bottom of the last rotating flight of stairs as it moved towards their destination. It stopped with a jolt and Sabine nudged Remus back as she leapt off, chuckling as he ran towards her, engulfing her in a bear hug. "Excited?"

"To be spending a holiday away from Hogwarts? Hell, yes." he sighed happily as he let her go and continued walked. He smiled at his luck that the full moon had already occurred, just a few days earlier. "And, not that I don't love spending time with Sirius and James, the limits of my holiday options are starting to wear on me just a bit." he said.

"Well, I don't spend near that much time with them and they wear on me a hell of a lot more than a bit." Sabine snorted and shook her head as she saw the two of them, ties worn around their heads and clothes 'stylishly' disheveled.

"Oi, Moony, Sabine!" Sirius called, running back towards them with James. "Shall we try to get a cabin towards the front or the back?" Sabine cringed as she looked to Remus for help. Sabine rolled her eyes and snatched the ties from their heads.

"You goons look absolutely ridiculous." she laughed. "I'm sitting with Lily and Sev." she smiled weakly, toeing the ground.

"Traitor." James said playfully, nudging Sabine's shoulder then wrapping an arm around her as Remus did the same. "No worries, just sit with us half way through." he suggested. Sabine shrugged.

"That'll work." she smiled, breaking away from the two. "I hate it when you guys do that, it makes me feel like your little sister." she said, sticking her tongue out and running forward to stand by Sirius. "I got all your Christmas presents, care to tell me what you got me as a trade?" she said with a sly smirk. Sirius snorted.

"Coal in a dirty sock." he smirked, shaking his head when she frowned.

"Lovely." she said flatly, sticking her tongue out at him before smiling again. "I really hope everyone gets along over the break."

"No worries, I'm sure we will." Sirius said comfortingly, patting her back lightly. Finally the four of them reached the Great Hall, surprised to see Peter already at a table eating. Sabine jogged ahead and took a seat next to him, grabbing a glass and pouring herself some pumpkin juice and smiling brightly at Peter as he gaped in surprise at her.

"Merry early Christmas, Peter, in case I don't get a chance to owl you a card or something." she smiled, remembering how happy Herman had been when she'd sent him in advance. Peter nodded slowly, shaking his head vigorously before returning to his meal.

They ate lightly, each of them too anxious about leaving to really concentrate on anything other than checking their watches and making sure they had everything with them. Their eyes shot quickly to McGonagall as she stood at the doors, smirking at the students that rushed from the tables and pushing the doors open for them.

"Shall we start the trek to Hogsmeade station?" she mused happily. The students agreed in a collective roar, almost trampling her as they passed. "Stay together now, or I'll have you doing lines when you get back!" she called, grabbing her skirt and carefully following them in the snow. Sabine sighed happily once they'd reached the station.

"Bloody hell, I can't wait." she giggled, hugging the guys before pushing through to find Lily and Severus. She pushed open their compartment door and flopped across from them, grinning ear to ear. "So, are you goons going to owl me, at the very least?"

"At the very least, perhaps." Lily feigned a cold demeanor, lifting her chin and glancing out the window before smirking. "Is Remus excited?" she asked.

"More than I am, I think." Sabine laughed. "I think he's as glad to spend time away from Hogwarts as I am." she sighed. "Anyway, I'm spending half my train ride here and half with 'those toady boys', as you call them, Lil." Lily's lips twitched as she fought a smile.

"Are you going to take pictures?" Severus asked.

"If I do, they'll be muggle photos." she shrugged. Severus nodded, glancing contentedly at Lily and leaning comfortably into his seat. He placed an arm around her and pulled her in so that her head rested on her shoulder. "Ugh, stop, this public display of affection is sickening." Sabine said flatly.

"Would you rather we snog right in front of you?" Lily asked challengingly. Sabine scrunched up her nose.

"Ew, no." she laughed. "However, I'd love for to be the godmother to your hideous offspring." she nodded. "However much like muggle mad scientists they may be with their little potions sets."

"I hate you." Severus chuckled, shaking his head.

"I love you, too, Sevvy-kins." Sabine grinned, smirking as she noticed Severus making faces and nodding inconspicuously towards the door. "Well, I suppose I'll go sit with Remus and the other gits now." she yawned, standing and stretching. She bent to hug Lily and Severus and ruffled his hair. "Owl me and have a great Christmas or you'll be getting a howler." she laughed, closing the compartment door behind her.

"You!" a voice called from behind her. Sabine whipped around quickly to see Bellatrix Black, arms crossed, smiling sinisterly at her. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Your that Alptraum girl I've seen with getting into trouble with my cousin Sirius." she said, lifting her chin and looking her over as though she was not worthy.

"Er, yes, Sirius and I are friends." Sabine said slowly. She seemed to remember that Bellatrix was not only a pureblood fanatic, but a bit crazy from time to time as well.

"Why, my cousin has found himself another incompetent little mudblood, what a surprise." Bellatrix drawled, smirking dangerously as she stepped closer. Sabine placed a hand on her wand and started backing towards Sirius' compartment.

"Bellatrix, you don't even know me." she said meekly.

"I don't have to know a mudblood to know what a mudblood is worth." she scathed. Sabine snorted.

"That's a wonderful outlook to have." she chuckled. "Listen, I'm just going to go sit with your cousin, whom it is obvious that you hate, and then go enjoy my Christmas break." she explained slowly. Bellatrix cackled as she whipped her wand out, pointing it directly at Sabine's face and grinning. Sabine kicked the compartment door hard, never taking her eyes off Bellatrix as she opened her mouth.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" James snapped, throwing the door open just in time to stop Bellatrix from speaking. His eyes went wide as he caught the look of fear on Sabine's face and craned his neck around to see Bellatrix glaring at her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her inside, stepping outside and pointing his wand. Sirius and Remus followed suit as Peter sat Sabine down to calm her.

"What happened?" he asked kindly.

"Bellatrix cornered me." she sighed.

"You bitch!" Sirius said incredulously. Bellatrix cackled and Sabine heard her pounding footsteps as she ran back to what ever compartment she'd come from.

"Did she try anything?" Remus asked as they stepped back in, pulling the shade on the window.

"Oh, 'course she tried it but she didn't get a chance." Sabine sighed again, feeling her fear subside. "That was bloody scary. You and your cousin really don't get along, do you?" she chuckled weakly, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"No, we don't." Sirius shook his head remorsefully. "I'm really sorry about her cornering you. She's a bit crazy."

"Yeah, just a bit." Sabine snorted, shaking her head. "Anyway, don't worry. No harm was done, I'll just be a little more careful about being alone. She called me a mudblood." she added with a confused frown. "How the hell does she know whether I'm muggle born or not?"

"Er, well, people like Bellatrix, the rest of my family for that matter, think that that matters." Sirius shrugged apologetically. Sabine nodded and sighed, giving her head a good shake to clear it. "They know the names of all the pureblood families." he added bitterly.

"I'm so sorry you're related to that walking lump of insanity." Sabine shook her head, wrapping herself tighter in her sweater and sighing as Remus placed an arm around her. "Is anyone else cold?" she asked. Everyone else in the compartment shook their heads in the negative. She glanced at Remus.

"So why did you leave Lily and Severus early?" James asked, only just noticing that they'd only been on the train for twenty minutes. Sabine cringed.

"Well, they wanted some, er... private time." she smiled weakly at him. James went stiff and nodded curtly. "How are you and Sylvia doing, James?" she asked quickly, making an attempt to change toe subject. James smiled slowly and turned his attention to the window as his cheeks flushed pink.

"Good, we're going quite well." he said quietly before they fell into a comfortable silence.

Finally, the happily reached the station. Sabine and Remus exchanged a greeting and a few words before saying their goodbyes to everyone. They marched off towards the alley entrance to Diagon Alley. They waited patiently in the shortest floo line, chatting casually about Christmas and what they could spend their time doing. Finally Sabine and Remus stepped in together and Sabine held his arm tight as she said their destination. What felt like a second later, they stepped from the dusty fireplace of Lady Murphy's Sweets Emporium. Remus went straight to a rather large display of chocolate bars almost immediately.

"Sabine, darlin', I wasn't expectin' ya for a few days." Ms. Murphy said pleasantly, voice thick with a very distinctly Irish accent. Sabine jumped out with a laugh and hugged her tight. "And who is this boy you've brought home with ya?" she asked, smirking and wiggling her eyebrows knowingly.

"Now, Ms. Murphy, this is my good friend Remus Lupin. We're just friends." Sabine added seriously. Ms. Murphy laughed and chuckled as Remus turned around, arms full of chocolate. "Remus, we can always come back by if what you buy now doesn't last. Besides that, my brother can bake like you wouldn't believe." she laughed. Remus shrugged and carried his arm load to the counter, placing it down carefully before pulling out his coin bag. Sabine shook her head and grabbed some Bertie Botts and two boxes of sugar quills. They both paid quickly and said their goodbyes, exiting the shop to see that Sabine's brother wasn't there yet.

"I thought you said he'd be here." Remus said casually. Sabine shrugged and glanced down the road in his direction. "Chocolate?" he asked, extending the half eaten bar in her direction. Sabine snorted and shook her head.

"No thanks." she said absently, searching the road until she finally saw her brother's junk car vibrating down the road towards them. "There he is." she smiled. Remus' eyes went wide.

"T-that is your brother's car?" he asked, fear evident in his voice. "Is it held together by rubber bands and chewing gum?" he asked. Sabine laughed as it rolled up in front of them and her brother leaned over to unlock the door. Remus slid wearily into the back.

"Where the bloody hell is all your luggage?" Rich laughed.

"In Remus' pocket." Sabine sneered, sticking a sugar quill into her mouth and offering him one. "Remus, this is my brother. Rich, this is Remus."

"It's nice to meet you, Remus. I can tell by your expression that my car frightens you..." he paused and looked thoughtful. "Or do all cars frighten you?" he asked nervously.

"Just yours." Remus smiled apologetically.

"That's alright, we don't have far to travel." Rich beamed, carefully checking his rear view mirror then jolting into motion as he turned around towards his home. "You really should warn me next time your rat bird is going to come to my home."

"With what? The only means of contact I have is by sending my 'rat bird' as you so eloquently put it, to your home." Sabine snorted, happy to hear Remus laugh in growing comfort from the backseat. Rich shrugged and nodded. "James and Sirius haven't said when they'll be come, speaking of rats." she added with a smirk in Remus' direction. Rich laughed.

"That's alright. Any friend is welcome in my home." he said simply, finally pulling into his drive. Remus got out first, very obviously happy to be out of the car. "So what kinds of magical things has my little sister learned this year?" Rich asked as he opened the front door for them.

"Well, I can transfigure a tea cup into a toad." Sabine smiled weakly. "And I sort of know how to brew a few potions." she added.

"The toad was an accident and the potions were with Lily's help." Remus explained, ducking away as Sabine made to punch him in the arm playfully. "She does exceptionally in charms but she doesn't do well with the makeup or household charms, er, well, not as well as she should." he explained. Sabine nodded in agreement.

"Makeup and household, I am surprise." Rich said sarcastically, smirking playfully at his sister.

"We can't all be Suzy Homewitch, now can we?" Remus asked. Sabine rolled her eyes and flopped onto the couch with a sigh.

"So what is on the agenda, big brother?" she asked as Remus took a seat next to her. Rich shrugged.

"Later tonight, you two are taking my car into town because I have a visitor coming." he replied. "Other than that, I don't really care. You can fly around on your brooms and chant in your pointy hats for all I care."

"I brought my broom, but I left my hat." Remus said seriously. Rich's eyebrows rose.

"You actually wear pointy hats?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah." Remus replied as though Rich was stupid. "Our school robes even have pointy hoods. Rich laughed ad shook his head.

"That has to be a lovely sight, my sister in a robe with a pointy hood reading a book about magic." he said between fits of laughter. "All she needs now is a wart on her nose."

"You be nice or it won't be me that has one." Sabine said, pointing at him threateningly. "This is going to be an interesting holiday." she chuckled.

An hour later, they'd both changed into more comfortable muggle clothes and were waiting for Rich to shoo them out. Finally he did so as he gave Sabine the car keys.

"Be careful." he said in a fatherly tone, waving as they pulled from the drive.

"Shall we see a movie, then?" Sabine asked. Remus shrugged and nodded in agreement.


	9. Movies, A Kiss, The Spanish Inquisition!

AN: So! Alright... once I'd switched over to concentrating on American Aurors and Werewolves it was really hard to start Gryff back up again. I literally stared at it for three hours one night, typing some then erasing it because it started to feel like I was still writing about the AmAurWer universe in my head. . . Hope that sounded normal, lol. Anyway, then an idea struck me. Eight chapters and it still didn't feel much like Sirius and Sabine were going much of anywhere. It didn't feel right. So. . . this is basically where they went. It felt natural. I think you learn a little something about Sabine and how good she is at handling certain situations. Anyway. . . it was a load of fun to write this. Ahem... no one ever expects the Spanis Inquisition!

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"I believe that that was the first time I have ever seen a movie." Remus chuckled as they exited the theater. "Explain to me again why they were wearing those hats and shooting at one another with those odd silver things."

"The hats are called cowboy hats, because they were cowboys. The silver things were guns." Sabine laughed, shaking her head. "And, before you ask, the accents were American. John Wayne shot the other cowboy because he was a bad guy; you could tell that because his hat and horse were black." she smiled. Remus shook his head.

"So, John Wayne shot him because his horse as black?" Remus asked incredulously.

"No, he shot him because he had killed his father." she explained. Remus nodded slowly.

"I see, and what did that solve?" he asked, nose scrunched in confusion.

"Nothing, but it made for a great movie, didn't it?" she laughed.

"I don't much think I'd like guns." Remus added thoughtfully. Sabine shrugged and nodded.

"Would you like something to eat?" Sabine asked. "If I remember correctly, there is a pub down the road that we should be able to find some decent food in." she suggested.

"I don't have muggle money." Remus said simply.

"No worries, I owe you, remember?" she asked, grabbing his arm and tugging him down past a few shops. They slipped casually into the pub and found seats, waiting patiently for one of the busy waitresses to come take their order.

"What do you recommend?" Remus asked, glancing in confusion at the menu. Sabine laughed.

"I don't recommend the corned beef and cabbage, that's an acquired taste." she smiled, trying to find something he might like. "Why not just have the beef stew?" she asked.

"Sounds good." he nodded. "And to drink?"

"I'm having a coke, ever had one?" Sabine asked, glancing up from her menu.

"Er, no." he said slowly, frowning. "I'll have one of those, too, then." he sighed. Sabine laughed and shook her head. She ordered for the both of them when the waitress finally made it to their table. She returned quickly with their drinks and then skittered off to bus the other tables. Remus took a big drink and nearly choked. "It's like liquid Fizzing Whizbees." he coughed, shaking his head.

"But its good, isn't it?" Sabine grinned, taking a small bite of her corned beef and cabbage and smiling gratefully. "The food at Hogwarts is good and all, but I really miss this stuff." she sighed before taking another bite. Remus ate his stew, seeming quite pleased with it. He finished it quickly and cautiously took another drink, glancing casually around the pub.

"Is this where you usually eat?" he asked. Sabine shook her head as she finished her food.

"Merlin, no." she laughed. "No, Rich is a master in the kitchen but he and his boyfriend have been spending more time together lately. I must say I'm quite happy for them." she smiled thoughtfully. "Well, shall we pay and head back to the house? I'm sure you'd like to get settled in as much as I would." she suggested.

"Sure, although I am reluctant to get back into that rolling metal death trap your brother calls a car." Remus said honestly. Sabine laughed and nodded.

"I'm sure you are, I used to hate that thing." she agreed, standing and pushing her chair in. Remus followed her to the rather ancient looking register and watched Sabine hand over money that he was only slightly unfamiliar with. "Well, I've had a lovely evening." she smiled brightly as she turned to face him.

"I have to, thank you for a good time." Remus chuckled, batting his eyelashes and feigning a girly, flattered look. "Shall we?" he asked, pushing out his elbow gentlemanly. Sabine laughed as she linked arms with him, skipping towards the car.

They both slipped in with a contented sigh, Remus buckling his seat belt before Sabine had even taken the keys from her pocket. She laughed and shook her head.

"I find it rather humorous that the fact that it's illegal for me to drive isn't scaring you at all." she grinned. Remus' eyes bugged out as he stuttered. "No worries, we can just hex anyone that tries to pull me over." she added, smirking playfully at him, turning the key and backing carefully from the parking space.

"You're quite good at comforting me." Remus said flatly, crossing his arms and pouting. The rode back in silence, Sabine smirking once Remus had finally begun to look mildly comfortable. She pulled into the drive and turned the car off with a sigh before getting out. Remus looked relieved as they reached the door.

"That certainly was lot of fun." Sabine chuckled, closing the door behind them and heading towards the couch. "Wonder where my brother is." she mumbled to herself, glancing down the hall. "Rich?!" she yelled.

"Oh, they're home." Rich said to someone, pulling open the third guest bedroom on the left. Sabine beamed as she saw James step out, followed by Sirius and Rich.

"I didn't think you guy's would be here so soon." Remus smiled, hugging them both. "Sabine took me to an..." he paused and glanced at Sabine.

"American Western movie." she finished for him.

"Right, and I had a coke." he smiled with pride. "It was like liquid Fizzing Whizbees; it really rather burned." he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the side of his nose as he remembered the sensation. Sirius laughed and nodded, glancing between then like they'd gone crazy. "The movie was interesting. John Wayne shot a bad guy because his horse was black." he said in amazement.

"Must be awfully violent in western America." James chuckled, shaking his head and taking a seat next to Sabine. Rich cackled at their discussion as he headed towards the kitchen.

"Sabine, you really need to bring these guys every time you come." he laughed. "Shot him because his horse was black..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Anyone hungry?" he asked as he finally composed himself. Sirius and James bolted into the kitchen.

"I could eat." James said hopefully. Sirius nodded vigorously. Remus and Sabine glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, smirking at their two friends.

"Sabine, Remus, are you two hungry?" Sirius asked as he poked his head through the doorway.

"No, we ate at the pub down from the theater." Remus replied. Sirius nodded before he finished and practically leapt back into the kitchen. "Well, I'm like to unpack, care to show me my room?" he asked. Sabine nodded, standing and stretching before heading down the hall. She glanced into the one next to hers to see someone's luggage already strewn across the floor. Pushing open the door across from it, she curtsied gracefully and chuckled.

"Your room, Master Lupin." she said humbly. Remus slipped past, rolling his eyes and placing his tiny trunk onto the floor before bringing it back to normal size. He handed Sabine her own trunk from his pocket and she smiled sheepishly.

"I forgot." she said, sticking her tongue out. Remus threw himself onto the bed and sighed comfortably.

"I'm going to bed." he groaned into his pillow. Sabine laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Night, Remus." she said softly, turning off the light and closing the door as she left. She walked to the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe, watching Sirius, Rich and James eat. "You keep eating like that and there will be more flying about than in your mouths." Sabine laughed from behind James. He choked and coughed, glaring up at her as she took a seat across from Sirius.

"It's impolite to scare someone that is eating." James grumbled, mouth crammed with what appeared to be a home made roll. Sirius smirked as he took a bite. "Where's Remus?" James asked.

"I guess he's worn out from traveling today because he went to sleep." Sabine shrugged, glancing inconspicuously at Sirius before turning towards her brother. Rich smiled devilishly at her, raising his eyebrows and nodding slightly towards Sirius, who, like James, was again eating ravenously. Sabine bugged her eyes out, gritting her teeth and trying to glare as she felt the corners of her mouth trying to tug into an embarrassed smile. Rich's chin rose in pride as he surveyed the two boys, resting his gaze critically on Sirius.

"So, what kinds of classes do you two take?" Rich asked, smirk barely there. Sabine leaned back, hoping this wasn't about to get painful but somehow knowing that it may. "Remus informed me today that my sister does well in Charms, what are your strong subjects?" he continued.

"Er, well, we take the same subjects as Sabine does," James started, swallowing. "Well, I guess my best is probably Transfiguration or Defense Against the Dark arts." he replied politely.

"I do pretty well in all my classes." Sirius said honestly, smiling sheepishly as he shrugged. Rich's eyebrows raised and he nodded, looking impressed before he glanced at Sabine suggestively.

"Sabine's told me that you have quite a knack for getting into trouble?" Rich chuckled. Sirius scoffed.

"We aren't the only ones." Sirius sang, smirking across the table at Sabine. "She's gotten three detentions already. One for trying to sneak out, one for covering McBride in boils, and a last for being late to Divination then telling the teacher that it was as useful as backwards knee caps."

"In her defense, she was having a fight with Sirius at the time." James added in reasonably. Sirius nodded in agreement. "He really can be a bit of an ass when he wants to be."

"Toerag." Sirius mumbled.

"Well, you three, I believe I'm going to follow your friend Remus' actions and go to bed." Rich yawned, standing from the table. "It was awfully nice meeting you. I'll see you all in the morning. Leave the dishes and breakfast to me." he smiled, walking from the kitchen with another great yawn.

"Your brother is really nice." James complimented. Sabine smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, James." she said softly. "I was really worried you might not like him or something."

"Anyone that feeds us that quickly is fine by us." Sirius laughed. Sabine rolled her eyes, still smiling. James cleaned his plate and placed it carefully into the sink, yawning and sighing.

"I believe it's my bed time, children." he joked. "See you two in the morning." he waved, exiting quickly and leaving Sabine and Sirius alone as he finished eating.

"Care to watch a little television?" Sabine offered. Sirius' brows furrowed in confusion. Sabine laughed and motioned for him to follow her. She took a seat on the couch, patting the spot next to her as she grabbed the remote from the coffee table. Sirius looked at the television and scoffed.

"It's a box with a window." he said skeptically. "And we're going to watch it? Does it dance? Our house elf dances." he chuckled to himself. Sabine turned it on, happy to see a Monty Python rerun. "There are... fairies in the box? They're so small."

"It's a comedy show." Sabine chuckled. Sirius nodded as the Pythons started the 'Dead Parrot Sketch'. Sirius was enthralled. "It's a rerun, it was recorded a few days ago."

"His parrot is dead." Sirius mumbled, brows furrowed. He laughed. "Muggles keep dead parrots?" he asked, turning to Sabine.

"No, that's why it's funny. The guy nailed the parrot to it's perch." she smiled. Sirius nodded slowly, turning back to the screen and laughing as John Cleese banged the fake parrot against the counter. He leaned back comfortably. Sabine turned as inconspicuously as she could, smiling and blushing as he laughed again. He looked over at her and blushed when he noticed that she had been staring at him.

"What?" he asked. Sabine shook her head.

"Nothing." she said quickly, not quite looking away. They locked eyes again and Sirius leaned closer. Sabine closed her eyes as she felt his lips touch hers softly. Sirius brought his hand to her cheek, pulling her in even closer. Sabine pulled back quickly, eyes wide. She slapped his arm. "What did you do that for?" she yelped in frustration. Sirius gaped at her.

"You did it!" he said defensively. Sabine growled as she stood from the couch.

"I did not, you did!" she shot back, pointing at him. Sirius stood, getting almost chest to chest challengingly.

"I did not, you started it." he argued. Sabine scoffed, lifting her face to look up at him. "You were staring at me."

"Why would I do something like th-" she started, being interrupted as Sirius bent to kiss her again. He cupped her cheeks in his hands. Sabine tangled her fingers in his hair, sighing softly. He broke the kiss, staring into her eyes. "See, you did it again." she said weakly, frustrated that her smile betrayed her.

"Only to shut you up." Sirius said defensively, smirking just barely. Sabine's eyes narrowed as she punched him in the arm.

"I'll thank you not to do it again." she frowned. Sirius smiled sheepishly, still chest to chest with her. Sabine realized her hands were still fisted in his hair and she pulled them out, looking away as she felt her cheeks burn. "Did you and I actually just kiss?" she asked, as though she wasn't one of the people participating. Sirius laughed as he rubbed the side of his neck.

"I think we did." he replied, glancing from his feet to her eyes. "Was it that bad?" he chuckled. Sabine shook her head vigorously.

"Merlin's beard, I can't answer that!" she gaped at him, feeling her whole face flush down to her chest. Sirius' eyebrows rose as he smiled ear to ear.

"That good, huh?" he laughed. Sabine growled in frustration. "If you start raving, I'll do it again." he warned with a smile. Sabine threw her hands into the hair in defeat as she pushed past. Sirius grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To bed, to think." she answered flatly. Sirius loosened his grip before he let go. "You and I are going to have a long talk tomorrow." she said authoritatively as she felt her stomach do flips. She glanced back at him to see him smirking. "Good night, Sirius." she finished, marching back to her room and slamming the door as quietly as she could. Sirius settled onto the couch, still smirking, as he felt his stomach doing flips.

"Merlin, she's adorable when she's flustered." he chuckled to himself, turning his attention back to the television just in time to see the Spanish Inquisition. "Huh, didn't expect that." he sighed, propping his feet up onto the coffee table comfortably.

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SO! Did you like? I'm quite happy with this one. I wonder if Sirius understands the little joke he made. lol... Wow, I'm such a PythonHead. He-nyway, so, there ya go. They kissed. Doesn't seem too much like Sabine has accepted that, does it? Oooh, I wonder what Sevvy, Lil and Remus will say! You totally know she's going to tell them a.s.a.p. Things are heating up! I so love toying with my characters. lol 


	10. Breakfast, Shopping, Cafe Disputes

AN: So, I worked extra hard on this because I'm not going to be home for a week. Wooo, vacation! Anyway, I don't have much to say, being that it's 2:45a.m. lol. I'm trying to be quiet so... shhh... lol. I hope it doesn't seem rushed. It probably does, being that I was trying to get something out before I left. I dunno how plausible updating will be while I'm gone but I'm gonna hate not working on it. Notebooks, abound! Anyhoo, here ya go! Please review!

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Sabine cracked her eyes open, wincing against the sunlight filtering through her window. She scowled as she saw the chirping birds on her windowsill. She threw the spare feather pillow at the window, smirking lopsidedly as she heard it make contact before yanking the covers over her head and turning onto her stomach. She gasped and jolted from the bed as someone started hammering on her door with their fists.

"Oi, get up in there!" her brother yelled. "It's morning, unless you want me to come in there and sing to you, get your lazy bum out of bed." he finished, moving to the next door to repeat the process. Sabine slipped her head cautiously from under the blanket and glared at the door, sighing as she glanced at the clock.

"It's nine, are you mental?" she yelled as she crawled back into bed. Rich threw her door open, cocking an eyebrow and smirking.

"Stay up late last night, did you?" he asked suggestively. Sabine's eyes narrowed as she threw the blanket aside.

"I loathe the very ground you walk upon." she growled, scratching her head and stretching her neck. "Why, favorite sibling, did you wake me this early?" she asked sarcastically. Rich chuckled.

"Because, I'm making breakfast." he smiled cheerfully. "Get dressed and wake your friends." he ordered brightly, turning and jogging towards the kitchen. Sabine closed her door and grabbed some clothes. She marched slowly to the bathroom, groaning at the early hour. She showered and dressed quickly, fixing her hair the way Lily had taught her and putting on simple makeup. Feeling slightly refreshed, she marched out and started to hammer on Sirius' door with her fists before moving to James'. Just as she was about to make contact with Remus' door, he swung it open, smiling brightly.

"Good morning." he beamed. "Are they awake yet?" he asked, closing his door behind him. Sabine lowered her hand slowly and frowned.

"No." she mumbled, walking back to James' and banging on it again. "The git probably used a silencing charm. You go in." she said, pointing at it and crinkling her nose. "I'm scared he'll be naked or something." Remus laughed. "I'll go bang on Sirius' more."

"Alright." Remus shrugged, throwing the door open. "James, you lazy git, wake up." he yelped as he stepped inside. Sabine heard a groan of annoyance. She jiggled the handle of Sirius' door and started banging again.

"Wake up!" she yelled. "Merlin's beard, Sirius. My brother is making breakfast." she sang, hoping that tempting him with food would work. She heard rustling as he got out of bed. Her eyes went wide as Sirius threw the door open. She blinked rapidly as she noticed he was only in a pair of pajama pants. "Er, go get dressed." she said, happy to hear that she wasn't stammering on like an embarrassed school girl. Sirius frowned and scratched his head as he yawned.

"Why?" he asked, yawning again.

"Because it's impolite to be half naked at the breakfast table in someone else's house." Sabine said flatly, pointing towards the bathroom he shared with Remus. "Now go."

"Yes ma'am." Sirius smirked. "When are we going to have that talk?" he asked playfully.

"When you're clothed and fed, you oaf, now go." Sabine ordered, cocking an eyebrow and pointing again. She closed the door behind her, placing her hands on her cheeks to make sure she wasn't blushing. She felt the heat and sighed, rolling her eyes. "Wonderful, Sabine, just wonderful." she mumbled to herself.

"Is he awake?" Remus asked casually as she entered the kitchen.

"Finally." Sabine sighed, taking a seat between James and Rich. Rich placed two eggs onto her plate and handed her two pieces of toast. James handed her the plate of sausages and bacon."So, how did you two sleep last night?" she asked.

"Really good." James nodded. "The bed was really comfortable."

"It's goose down." Rich smiled. "They're antiques." he added.

"I thought they reminded me of my bed, it's hippogryff down." James smiled, digging into his food again. Rich choked on his toast.

"It's what?" he asked. "What the hell is a hippogryff?" he asked, turning to Sabine.

"Great big bird-horse." she smirked casually, taking a bite of her egg. "Very noble. They're quite selective of who they'll let ride them." she added. Rich snorted.

"Uh huh." he nodded. "Of course, I'm a git for not knowing that." he shrugged, talking more to himself. "Good morning." Rich smiled brightly as Sirius shuffled in and surveyed the table. He took a seat between Remus and James and glanced up at Sabine before piling food onto his plate. Sabine caught his gaze and quickly looked back down at her plate, frowning at it. "I was thinking we'd go out shopping today or something. I need to get a few more Christmas decorations then we can put the tree up." Rich said conversationally. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"You know, if there are things around here you need to get done I can take them in." Sabine offered. "After all, it'll leave more room on the car for what we buy and it's more efficient." Rich nodded, looking agreeable.

"I suppose that would be fine." Rich smiled. "I'm sure Remus would enjoy having other people in the car that are just as scared of it as he is." he laughed. Remus laughed nervously and nodded.

"So, as soon as everyone finishes, I'll drive us in." Sabine smiled. She was happy that not only was she helping but she was putting off having to talk to Sirius alone. She cleared her plate first, placing it into the sink and marching back to her room to grab her coat. She stepped back into the hall just as Remus stepped from his room.

"You got an owl, just after you left." he said, thumbing in the direction of the kitchen. "Looked like Buzzard, Lily's owl." he added. Sabine pushed past him, inciting a laugh from Remus. She practically dove through the kitchen doorway and snatched the letter from James.

"Mitts of my mail, Potter." Sabine smirked, ripping open the envelope and beginning to read.

_Sab,_

_Just wanted to let you know Sev and I got home safely. Hope your brother doesn't complain too much about Buzz swooping into his kitchen. So, how goes it so far? Don't say anything, I know it's only been a day but I thought I'd check on you. Write us back soon. Sev sends his love._

_Lil and Sev_

"It's only been a day, why is she sending an owl so soon?" Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes. Sabine kept her eyes on the paper, leaning over and playfully slugging Sirius in the shoulder as she reread it.

"Just to let me know she got home safely and to check on me." Sabine smiled contentedly. "I'll have to remember to respond tonight."

"Can I read it?" James asked in a small voice. Sabine cocked an eyebrow and handed him the letter. He read it quickly and stiffened. "_Sev sends his love_?" he read disdainfully. Sabine glanced back at forth between Sirius and James as they eyed her expectantly.

"We are friends, you know." she mumbled indignantly, grabbing the keys off the tale. "Alright, let's go." she sighed, motioning for them to follow. "Who wants shotgun?" she asked, holding the door open for them.

"What's that?" James gaped in confusion. Remus smiled proudly, looking at James and shaking his head.

"You shoot people with a gun." he said matter of factly. Sabine laughed.

"Shotgun is the passenger seat in a car." she chuckled, rolling her eyes and closing the door behind them. "It's just a muggle phrase."

"I'll take shotgun." Sirius smiled, linking arms with Sabine as the other two slipped into the backseat.

"Just get in the car before I hex you into next week." Sabine chuckled, feeling her face warm and happy that she could blame the cold. She slipped in and fastened her seat belt, turning the key and smiling as the car rumbled and vibrated to life. The made the drive in content silence, Remus, Sirius and James all glancing in wonder at the beautiful scenery. Finally, Sabine pulled up in front of one of the shops and turned the car off. They got out and stopped in front of the window.

"That is bloody cool." Sirius grinned, pressing his forehead to the glass and watching the toy train set up as it rounded the track. Remus glanced at the mechanical Santa as it waved and bent to pick up a present. James was completely enthralled by the giant pine tree, covered in blinking strings of lights.

"Come on in, we need a star, some more lights and everyone get's their own ornament. It's tradition." Sabine beamed, herding them towards the door. She nodded at the clerk and led them towards one of the aisles of decorations. She picked up a glittery golden star and showed it around. None of them were impressed.

"Ooo, I like this one." Remus said, resembling a small child as he picked up an angel in prayer with white feathery wings. "Seems odd to have a fairy on a tree but her wings like bird wings."

"She's an angel, Remus." Sabine chuckled. He nodded slowly, still examining it. "Merlin, this is weird. I've never had to explain muggle stuff to a wizard before." she sighed.

"I like it, I think we should get her." James said, nodding with conviction. Sirius and Remus nodded along. Sabine laughed.

"Sounds fine to me, she's better than a plain old star anyway." she smiled, walking farther down the row. "You three go pick out your favorite ornament, I'll get the lights." she ordered. Before she could say anything else, Remus handed her the angel and they all separated. Sabine smirked and rolled her eyes, gentling holding the angel topper under her arm and scrutinizing over lights. She smiled devilishly as she saw boxes of all red and all yellow lights. She snatched two of each and headed off to find her friends.

After finding the others quickly, they paid and reconvened outside the store. They placed their things in the back of the car and took a look at their list.

"Well, we got the tinsel, lights, ornaments, the topper, and we got some mistletoe." Sabine rambled off, more to herself. "What else is there on the list?" she asked James, who had taken the list in an attempt to be helpful. He furrowed his brows and read carefully.

"Egg nog, candy canes, milk, eggs, bread, and cloves." he answered.

"Alright, the store is right down here." Sabine sighed, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. They walked close to one another and loosened as they entered the warm grocery store. "Do not play with the shopping carts." she pointed at Sirius as yanked one from the line and James hoisted a leg inside. "You are not riding in that." she chastised, unable to hide the smirk on her face.

"Aw, c'mon." James whined, poking out his bottom lip in a pout. She rolled her eyes and took the cart from Sirius.

"Get in and be careful." she laughed. Sirius perched himself on the end of the cart and surveyed the aisles of the store like a kid in a candy shop. Remus wrapped an arm around Sabine's shoulder and smiled apologetically at her. "Feels like we're their parents, Remus." she laughed.

"At least I don't feel like I'm raising them by myself, now." Remus laughed, handing James candy canes and bread from the shelves as they passed. Sirius leapt from the end of the cart as they hit the dairy and frozen foods section. He grabbed the egg nog, milk and eggs, and placed them in the cart. James beamed contentedly from inside, pulling faces as people passed. "James, stop that." Remus chastised. Sabine chuckled as James frowned up at his friend.

They gathered the rest of their groceries and paid, receiving odd looks from the cashier and other patrons as James carefully climbed from the cart and carried the bags with him. They placed their bags in the trunk and Sabine sighed, glancing around the street before checking her watch.

"Anyone want lunch? It is about noon." she asked, feeling her own stomach rumble. Everyone nodded in agreement and they started off towards a small café across the street. Sabine glanced over and noticed James and Remus talking quietly to each other.

"Hey, we'll meet you there, we're going to go back to that specialty store we passed." James said, nodding for Remus to follow. Sabine shrugged and nodded, hoping they wouldn't take too long. "See you in a little bit." He waved before they broke off and jogged back across the street. Sirius held the door for Sabine and followed her into the warm café. They took a booth in the corner and Sabine sighed, pushing her coat into the corner. Sirius beamed at her from across the table and wiggled his eyebrows.

"So, you mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about last night." he smirked. Sabine sighed heavily and cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes, I did." she said calmly. "What the bloody hell was that all about?" she whispered harshly. Sirius chuckled.

"We kissed." he said simply. Sabine crossed her arms and waited for him to continue. "What?" he asked, brows furrowing.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked in a smaller voice than she had intended. Sirius sighed and looked out the window, obviously thinking about the answer he wanted to give. He turned back quickly and looked her levelly in the eye.

"You didn't exactly reacted like someone that was disgusted." Sirius pointed out. Sabine's eyes narrowed. "One would think, by your reaction, that you enjoyed it." he added haughtily. Sabine cocked an eyebrow dangerously and pointed at Sirius.

"One would also think, being that I'm so close, that one should shut their trap." she snapped in a whisper. Sirius smirked and shook his head. "What on earth possessed you to kiss me, anyway?" she asked.

"I wanted to." he said simply, crossing his arms and leaning back in the booth. Sabine sighed and narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips and glaring at him. "I assure you, it won't happen again." he added curtly.

You should go review now! Go, tell me you're angry that Sabine's a snippy, uptight, dunderhead. Lol c'mon, ya know ya wanna. See that button there? Push it and review!


	11. A Gryffindor Tree and Drunken Snogging

AN: So, I went on vacation and now I'm back! Yay! Relaxed and all! So I've been back for a few days though. I actually wrote this all in one night but I have a rule about not posting something immediately. I'd rather sleep on it and reread it to make sure I like it and I actually rather liked where this went. There's a bit of drunken character honesty in this. lol Beyond that, it was fun to write them being all giggly and sloshed. So, things are really heating up for Sabine and Sirius. You may ask why they're moving slowly. Blame Sabine. She totally doesn't know how to handle the attention. And Sirius... well, his reputation proceeds him a bit, I think. No worries. He's persistant and she really likes him.

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Sabine grunted in a huff, stuffing her coat rather harshly into the corner next to her and scooting over as Remus and James approached the table, a few bags heavier than before. Remus slid in next to her gently as James plopped his bags under the table, flopping heavily next to Sirius with a sigh. Sabine feigned her most convincing smile and sipped her coke. 

"I ordered cokes for you all, hope you don't mind." she said casually. Neither protested as Remus placed an arm across Sabine's shoulder and leaned back comfortably. Sabine's eyes narrowed as she noticed the look of annoyed understanding flash into Sirius' eyes. She felt her eye twitch as she contemplated kicking him under the table.

"You two didn't argue too much while we were gone, did you?" Remus asked jokingly. Sabine faked a laugh, kicking Sirius as if to tell him to act naturally. He bit his lip and chuckled, shooting an inconspicuous glare her way.

"What is in the bags, James?" Sabine asked, wiggling her eyebrows and trying her best to steer the conversation. James grinned coyly and shook his head.

"Never you mind, Beany, never you mind." he chuckled. Sabine scrunched her nose.

"Beany? Are you bloody serious?" she laughed. Remus laughed.

"I rather like it." he grinned. "Beany. It has a certain ring to it."

"Oh, I suppose I'll call you Remmy, then." she laughed, poking his side. "And you can be Jamesy? Does that mean he's Siri?" she asked. James smirked and shook his head.

"No way am I Jamesy." he chuckled. "But they can be Remmy and Siri, if they want." 

"No, thank you." Sirius snorted. Sabine cocked an eyebrow. 

"I rather like Siri." she said smugly. "And Remmy is good, too." she beamed at Remus. He nodded.

"Remmy it is, then." Remus smiled, sipping his coke cautiously. James chuckled and took a big gulp, eyes growing wide as he coughed a little. 

"Liquid Fizzing Whizbees is right." he chuckled, taking another big drink.

They sat and talked for an hour before deciding it best to get back. Sabine paid for their drinks and food and jingled the keys in her hand as they walked back towards the car. Sirius walked ahead of them, hands stuffed into his pockets. 

"I say that tonight we celebrate the season with a little fire whiskey and nog." James suggested, beaming devilishly. Sabine laughed as she opened her car door. 

"You'll have to suggest that to my brother, James." she chuckled. "However, I think he'll only be against it if we don't finished decorating the house." she added hopefully, slipping in and turning the car on. They rode back in relative silence. Sabine glancing at Sirius in the back and looking away quickly when she found him locking eyes with her. She sighed as they pulled in to the drive, laughing as Remus and James burst towards the house. Sirius shoved his hands onto his pockets once again and followed Sabine in slowly. As he closed the door behind him he turned to see Rich extending a box full of ornaments in their direction.

"James, Remus and I are going to decorate the kitchen and the hall. You two can do the tree." he said, an omniscient expression set on his face. Sabine cocked an eyebrows as her eyes narrowed. "Won't take but an hour or two. We'll be hanging garland so we won't be bothering you." he smiled batting his eyelashes innocently before turning on his heel and leaving. Sabine sighed and glared down at the box in her hands before glancing over at all the other decorations sitting at the base of the full, lush pine tree. Sirius walked over silently and started to unravel a line of yellow lights. 

"I'm going to kill my brother." Sabine mumbled, grabbing one of the boxes or dark red lights and unraveling it. She was startled as Sirius turned to her quickly.

"Do you like me?" he asked seriously. Sabine blinked a few times, her eyes wide. 

"Er..." she sighed heavily. "As a friend, Sirius." she said weakly, returning to unraveling her lights. Sirius shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Sirius, what does it matter?" she demanded, almost whining.

"Your right, it doesn't." he said flatly. They unraveled the lights and decorated the tree in complete silence. Finally they stepped back and had to smile at the good job they did. Their angel sat atop the lush green tree, looking down over the Gryffindor colors in prayer. The maroon and gold bulbs shone in the light. Sabine's glittery golden bulb sat highest, her name scrawled across it over a cartoon-like, hand drawn picture of a book. Rich's sat down farther, off set, with a picture of him and his boyfriend in the center. Remus' James' and Sirius' bulbs sat lower, each stripped in Gryffindor colors with different animals hand drawn by each on them. 

"A Gryffindor tree?" James asked in happy surprise. Remus beamed next to him. 

"That's brilliant." he smiled, examining the tree incredulously. Sirius placed an arm around Sabine's shoulder and smiled at the tree with pride. 

"I'm glad my first Christmas tree is a Gryffindor tree." he said quietly, sighing contentedly. Sabine pulled away and threw her arms around her brother in a hug. 

"Do you like it?" she asked. Rich laughed and nodded.

"I love it." he smiled, ruffling her hair a little. "Nice job, little sister, but I'm sure I could have done better." he smirked jokingly, ruffling her hair once again and taking a seat on the couch. "Your friend mentioned celebratory drinking?" James held up a bottle of firewhiskey, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I'll get the egg nog." Sabine laughed, jogging to the kitchen to grab glasses and egg nog. She sat around the coffee table with James, Sirius and Remus as Rich leaned forward on the couch. "I've never mixed firewhiskey with anything other than school punch." she laughed.

"I've never heard of firewhiskey." Rich laughed. James poured a little in a glass and handed it to him.

"It burns, I'm warning you now." he said sagely. Rich snorted.

"Whiskey doesn't burn anymore, not for me." he chuckled, tipping the glass back. His eyes went wide as he coughed and gasped. "That burned!" he finally managed to mumble between coughs, voice hoarse as he gasped. James laughed. "I feel warm now."

"I told you." James sang, pouring a little firewhiskey in each glass before pouring in the egg nog. "Cheers." he smiled, raising his glass with everyone else before taking a drink. Rich looked relieved to have something other than straight firewhiskey to drink before he glanced at Sabine.

"You drink that straight when you drink it?" he asked. Sabine chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, it burns some feeling or heat back into you.' she shrugged, glancing at Sirius before taking a quick drink from the bottle and smacking her lips together and taking a drink of her egg nog. "It's quite nice in winter." she added. Rich nodded and shook his head vigorously, shuddering at the memory of the fire in his throat. 

"You always were a bit mental." he mumbled. 

An hour and a half later, Rich was stumbling off to bed, singing an Irish love song Remus, James and Sirius had head Sabine sing on occasion after a bit too much firewhiskey. James stood shakily, leaning one way and catching himself with a hiccup and a giggle. 

"Good night, my friends." he said grandly, waving his arms wildly and catching himself on the wall, two empty bottles in hand. Remus stood to follow him, laughing as Sabine fell backwards with a thump and erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Good night, Remmy, as you're leaving me, too." she slurred before erupting into giggles once again.

"Night, Beany." Remus slurred, letting out a loud burp in the process and falling through his door, kicking it closed behind him. Sabine pulled herself up, preparing to go to bed herself before noticing Sirius staring at her, expression unreadable.

"Er, Sirius." she said, brows furrowing in concern. "You alright?" she asked. Sirius smashed into her, bashing her nose with is as he pulled her into a sloppy kiss. Her eyes went wide in surprise before they fluttered closed. Sirius pulled away suddenly and he looked at her in confusion.

"What was that for?" he slurred smugly. Sabine gaped at him. "Don't kiss me again." he mocked her voice before crashing his lips into hers again. Sabine leaned in closer, giggling into his lips. They parted slowly, both smiling inwardly. 

"I assure you, that won't happen again." she mocked his angry tone from earlier. She hiccuped, glancing at him appraisingly, before smacking him in the side of the head playfully. "Liar, you did it again." she said self righteously. Sirius glared at her, yanking her down as she tried to stand. 

"That's not funny." he said in the most sober voice he could muster. Sabine snorted.

"Really, because I thought it was quite humorous." she giggled, falling backwards again with a light thump. "You really are an ass, you know that, right?" she sighed contentedly.

"No one has ever told me that before." he said sarcastically. "Not once in my life." Sabine inched closer, lacing her fingers through his. "And you, Sabine, haven't the slightest idea what it is that you want. You know that, right?" he said mockingly. She broke into giggles and nodded.

"I was aware of that, yes." she responded honestly, finding it near impossible to lie and not at all worth the effort it would take her in her drunken state. "That's why I'm an anti-social bookworm." she smiled. Both erupted into laughter before Sirius leaned over her, tangling a hand on her hair as he held himself up with the other. He leaned in slowly, nipping her bottom lip before kissing her roughly. Sabine fisted her hands in his hair and sighed happily. She shoved him off her suddenly, looking as though the alcohol was clearing from her head. "I'm going to bed." Sirius collapsed with a frustrated groan and massaged his temples.

"Good night, Sabine." he called, voice flooded with frustration.

"Good night, Sirius." Sabine sang, unable to hide the smirk in her voice and the butterflies in her stomach. A smirk crawled across Sirius' face as he climbed wearily onto the couch and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Sabine closed the door behind her, rushing to her desk as carefully as possible and pulling out a quill.

_Lil, for your eyes only!_

_I bloody just snogged Sirius Black! Merlin's beard, what was I thinking! Well, I can answer that rhetorical question, I was thinking that I wanted to kiss him! Merlin, Lil. I like him! What the bloody hell do I do now? I mean, I kissed him before but what now! Come on, you have to help me. Owl me as soon as you can, please. It is rather urgent. I love you, Lil. Please note than I am awfully pissed at this point and your future husband, James, is totally to blame with his firewhiskey. However, I must say that I do believe Sirius Black is the best kisser on the planet. _

_Sab._

_P.S. Not a word to Sev, please._

She dropped her quill and carefully attached the letter to Herman's leg. She creaked open her window, hushing Herman and telling him where to go before shutting the window again and collapsing onto her bed. She tried to fight the contented smile on her lips as she rubbed her sore nose and drifted off to sleep.

HA! See that review button? Push it and leave me a review, people. Come on. Please? Don't make the author beg, now. -whimper- I love you?


	12. Happy couple in the candy shop

**AN: Right-o, so, it has taken me probably close to two weeks to get this out. Let me explain myself, because not only do I feel really bad about taking so long but I'm rather angry with myself for letting it go for that long. Alright, so, I explained a little in Auror about it, so... check out that story and get the same explaination! Lol Anyway, so I've been doing a lot. I have one story I'm preparing on paper to maybe post, maybe... maaaybe. I'm editing for someone that cannot write. Not like, he's bad at weaving an interesting story (he is bad at weaving an interesting story) but he's atrocious at writing. He wants to be a director. He is phenomenal at screen plays. This is not a screen play, this is a futuristic Equilibrium style... thriller? Whatever it is... it's written like a piecey screen play without direction. Then, beyond my three stories and my editing, I have work around the farm to keep up with, house chores that usually don't get done... tons. So, don't hate me, hate my family lol. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers... sorry my AN was so long, lol. The update isn't much, and I didn't feel great about stopping where I stopped but I am so... so tired lol. More will come soon, I promise on my heart.**

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"Get up, in there, that damn owl of yours is tapping and it's driving me bloody mad." Rich's voice called through the door. "I've got a damned headache and if you don't let your owl in I'm going to shoot him!" he yelled, stomping off and mumbling to himself as James yelped in protest of his yelling. Sabine sighed heavily and glanced at her alarm clock.

"Merlin's pants, I snogged Sirius." Sabine groaned nasally to herself as she covered her head with the pillow. She threw it aside and did a death march towards the window. "Then I owled Lily about it. I should just Avada myself now and get it over with." she groaned as she threw her window open, allowing Herman to hop onto her arm. He shook the snow from his feathers, ruffling them with a hoot as Sabine removed the note from his leg and placed him carefully into his cage. She sat on the edge of her bed, letter in her lap, and stared at it, chewing her bottom lip as she contemplated whether or not she wanted to open it immediately. She heard someone clear their throat from her doorway and looked up to see Remus yawn heavily and step in. He flopped onto her bed next to her and glanced at the letter.

"An owl from Lily, again?" he chuckled, yawning again and leaning back onto his elbows. Sabine nodded, still staring at it. "Are you going to open it?" he chuckled.

"Er, no, not at this very moment in time, I'm not." Sabine smiled weakly, tossing the letter into her dresser and sighing as she flopped backwards. "I already know what it's going to say so it isn't urgent or anything." she added lightly. "Rich making breakfast?"

"No, he sent me to ask you to make it. Apparently the firewhiskey really did a number on him." Remus laughed, scratching his head and stretching his neck. He stood and extended a hand to help her up. She took it and stood with a groan.

"The lazy git has probably gone back to bed then, I take it." she mumbled. Remus nodded with a smirk and shrugged.

"It was his first time drinking firewhiskey, you know, so be nice." He said in a fatherly tone. Sabine rolled her eyes and shooed him from the room.

"I'll be out as soon as I can, I'm just going to take a shower and get dressed." she yawned, grabbing some clothes and stopping as she stared at the letter on her dresser. She snatched it and placed her clothes on the sink in her bathroom, reluctantly opening the letter. She hoisted herself onto the sink to read and bit her lip as she cringed.

_Sabine!_

_You bloody snogged Sirius?! You must have had a good lot of firewhiskey. I know you must be expecting me to tell you what a slimy, goony, perverted moron he is but I suppose you already know that about him so reiteration isn't necessary. However, if you really do like him, go for him. Much as you think I'd be the last person to give that advice, that's the advice you gave me when I started to like Sev but was worried about everyone making it difficult for us since we're from opposing houses. Really, Sab, go for him but be careful. Just pull him aside and tell him how you feel. Be totally honest and go from there. I love you and good luck. And, I'll have you know, also, that just because you referred to James as my future husband that I told Sev. He was fine after I 'explained' a few things to him. My wand did all the talking, really. _

_Love you, Sab,_

_Lil and Sev._

Sabine sighed in relief as she tucked the letter into her medicine cabinet. She took a quick bath and dressed. Once she'd fixed her hair and make-up the way she'd been taught she strode happily to the kitchen and started glancing through the cupboards. She turned to see Remus, James and Sirius watching her, James and Remus eyes full of amused confusion and Sirius amused and blushing slightly.

"Good morning, why are you so happy?" James chuckled. Sabine shrugged, unable to stop smiling, as she placed a frying pan onto the stove.

"Omelets, fried eggs, what would you guys like?" she beamed.

"Can you cook?" Remus asked incredulously.

"The muggle way, yes." she laughed. "If you're asking me to magic you a four star breakfast, you'd best prepare for half a burnt pancake and an egg with shells all through it."

"I think we'll have some muggle made pancakes and sausage." Sirius chimed in, smirking at her. Sabine nodded as the other two agreed.

"Anything else?" she asked. They shook their heads in the negative and she nodded, starting in on the batter. About half an hour later, she finished the last batch of pancakes and sat the stack in the center of the table, making sure to grab some quickly before she watched the rest of them go. She laughed to herself as she took a few sausage patties. Once they'd finished eating she collected their plates and placed them into the sink.

"So, what are we doing today?" James asked as he took a seat on the floor in front of the couch. Sabine took a seat next to Remus and shrugged.

"I hadn't really planned anything." she said, deep in thought. "We could see a movie, we could go shopping at the sweet shop that Remus and I flooed into, the possibilities aren't vast but there are certainly plenty of things to do."

"Well, let's do both." Remus suggested. "We can go buy some things, then go to a movie." he smiled.

"Anyone seem the paper? The movies should be listed." Sabine asked, standing to check the counter. They shook their heads in the negative. Sabine grabbed the paper and hoisted herself onto the counter, flipping through the pages as she searched for the movie listing. "Ah, here we go. They're playing two comedies, 'Blazing Saddles' and 'The Young Frankenstein' which one?" she asked, looking up to see them gaping at her in confusion.

"What are they about?" James asked reasonably as Sirius and Remus continued to gape at her.

"Well, 'Blazing Saddles' makes fun of westerns and 'The Young Frankenstein' makes fun of black and white horror movies." she shrugged. They continued to gape at her. "Right, you don't watch movies regularly. Let's see both, then." she beamed. They shrugged and nodded in agreement. "I'll go get the keys from my brother." she said, hopping off the counter and jogging to Rich's room. She threw the door open and snatched the keys off his dresser.

"Oi, you, stop." he called, cringing at the pain in his head. "Why are you taking my keys?"

"We're going to the sweet shop then to see a few movies." Sabine smiled pleasantly, speaking quietly so as not to aggravate his hangover. "Sorry for disturbing you." Rich grunted in return, covered his face with his pillow and rolled back over as Sabine jogged out. "Everyone have their money?" Sabine asked, glancing around. Everyone nodded as she led them to the car.

"I still have quite a bit of chocolate left from when we arrived." Remus smiled contentedly as he settled into the backseat with James. Sirius smirked at her before noticing the window roller and furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Oi, Padfoot, it's cold in here." he yelped.

"Probably would be a better idea to keep the windows up."Sabine chuckled as she pulled from the drive and headed towards Lady Murphy's Sweets Emporium.

"This place looks rather tiny." James mumbled as they pulled up outside the run-down looking shop. James and Sirius gaped at the huge interior then shrugged, mumbling about magic. "Blimey, it's a chocolate leprechaun." James laughed, tapping the box as the leprechaun shook his tiny fist menacingly.

"Licorice kelpies?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"I'm partial to the gummy Blarney stone and the Lucky Creams." Sabine smiled, grabbing a box of each. "The Blarney stone doesn't do anything but they're bloody good and the Lucky Creams make you at least feel lucky for about five minutes." she shrugged. James and Remus rushed to the huge rack of chocolate and started picking through and examining things.

"Think we can get a minute alone to talk?" Sirius asked, eyeing the other two cautiously. Sabine nodded, walking casually over towards a rack in the back, just out of view. She crossed her arms and faced him expectantly. "I really rather like you." he mumbled awkwardly, staring at his shoes and running his hand through his hair. Sabine chuckled and smirked, feeling her cheeks burn.

"I believe I may be fond of you, as well, Sirius." she beamed. Sirius gaped at her for a moment before pulling her into a hug.

"So, what does this mean, then?" he asked, a smirk playing on his lips. Sabine slapped his arm playfully before wagging her finger at him.

"This means we're going to see what happens." she said in a chastising voice, biting her lip and blushing as Sirius laid his arm lazily across her shoulder. She walked out reluctantly, Sirius smiling smugly beside her.

"Er, what's all this, then?" James laughed, pointing at Sirius' arm. Sabine elbowed Sirius in the ribs as he made to speak.

"Nothing, James." she smiled. James cocked an eyebrow skeptically and nodded.

"I'm sure." he smirked.

"Well, Remus puts his arm around my shoulder and you don't get all suggestive about that." Sabine said indignantly, stomping her foot and feeling her cheeks burn once again. James' eyebrows rose as he considered her statement.

"Your right, but Remus doesn't grin like a goon and look all smug about it." James replied. Sabine's eyes narrowed as she shot a glare at James, only to see Remus peek around the corner with a big grin on his face.

"Cute couple." he chuckled, dodging a box of Licorice Kelpies Sabine had aimed at his head. "Does Lily know you two are acting lovey, yet?"

"Yes, she does." Sabine pouted, feeling her lips tug as Sirius gave her a squeeze. "I owled her, er, last night about it." she added, glancing down her feet and chewing her lip.

"We snogged." Sirius added with a wry smile. Sabine elbowed him in the ribs again. "What, we did!" he gaped at her.

"You git, you didn't need to announce it." Sabine mumbled.

"I take it you're official then?" James asked. Sirius shrugged and turned to Sabine.

"Are we?" he asked, looking slightly hopeful.

"I suppose we are, until you find a way of screwing it up." she laughed. Sirius grinned at her devilishly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked slowly, wrapping an arm tight around her shoulder and tugging her closer. She narrowed her eyes.

"I'm too embarrassed at the moment for you to be cute and not get injured." she smirked, sticking her tongue out at him. "Shall we go pay and then head to the movies?" she suggested, nudging Sirius as he sighed in defeat, feigning a pout. "Stop it." she said flatly, shaking her head and smiling.

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So, thank you for reading. Extra thanks if you actually read my entire AN at the top. You get cookies for that! I would greatly appreciate a review letting me know that it was sufficient until I can get this slowed down to actually give it proper attention. Of course, I probably won't get many tear lol. Anyhoo, thanks for reading, please review. I hope you enjoy the new couple lol.

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	13. Hogwarts Arrival, Lovey Dovey, Looming

**_AN: So, I sat down a few days ago and started writing this. It seems different to me but yet the same. -end psychological moment- lol Anyway, it was kinda hard to do after I updated Finding the Wolf but I really wanted to get back to this and get something down for it. I got a new laptop which may or may not mean more updatage but I dunno, it turns out I'm a crazy busy person which I never think that I am until I commit to something like this. Anyway, this was 4 pages of hard work. It didn't feel right to have anything bad happen to Sirius and Sabine yet because its still so new and even if something bad does happen it would either be tragic too early or it wouldn't mean much because they still have huge cartoon hearts in their eyes. Knowing me, it'd have been tragic. lol Anyway, I like where this is taking them and you might be able to tell what terrors are looming in the future. lol Looming. Gaad, I love that word. So, I'll end my rambles and let you people read... if I still have readers. Hope so! Anyway, to anyone that returns to read, this is devoted entirely to you. Con-crit, suggestions, theories, ideas, all of it is welcome by the author, yours truely._**

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Sabine stared contently out the window of her brother's car as he drove them to the little candy shop that everyone had apparated in through. She just finished the seventh time going through the plans for how they were to get to the station and everyone else was still mid eye roll without her noticing. Sirius had shrunk her luggage the moment she'd closed it and stuck it neatly in his front pocket. She had taken the nearly bottomless green dragon satchel he'd given her and placed the book of wizard's poetry that Remus had gotten her inside along with the book of Quidditch basics and set of Hollyhead Harpies quills James had gotten her solely on the basis that it was a female team. Being that the train ride was a long one, she figured on some reading if Lily would let her after she told her and Severus about dating Sirius, and then also if Sirius would let her between demanding her attention and demanding she tell him what Lily had said. She planned on enjoying the long and peaceful walk as much as she could because these next few hours, as a healer and St. Mungo's might say, would be crucial to her health.

"I don't want to leave." Remus whimpered. "I like it here."

"So come back over your next holiday." Rich chuckled as he pulled to the side of the road to let them out. "Send your flying rat once you get back safely." He smiled. "Love you."

"Love you, too." Sabine smiled as she threw her arms around her brother lovingly. "Be good."

"You too, short one." He laughed, ruffling her hair before she got out. She waved and sighed heavily before leading the others inside. She stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder and announced Diagon Alley, feeling a sensation akin to but not exactly like apparition as she 'landed' in her new location. James, Sirius and Remus came through quickly and she linked arms with Sirius, allowing James to lead them to the station.

"I still can't believe that you haven't told her yet." Sirius mumbled irritably, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. Sabine scowled up at him, wondering if she was going to allow him to ruin her relatively good mood.

"Don't start that again. I told you I hadn't because it's going be hard." Sabine explained, pulling away from Sirius and crossing her arms taut against her chest. "You haven't exactly got a shiny reputation for kindness to them, you know?" she asked rhetorically. Sirius sneered and crossing his arms in kind, stepping to walk ahead with James. Sabine felt her stomach knot and huffed in frustration as she fell in shoulder to shoulder with Remus. "He's such a brat."

"He thinks you're ashamed of him." Remus said softly. Sabine gaped at him and let out a cynical laugh.

"Oh, yeah, because I have such reason to be ashamed of him; he's brilliant if easily sidetracked, easy on the eyes. The only issue is that he acts like a total git to my best friends." Sabine snorted, finishing in a voice loud enough for her boyfriend to hear. Sirius flipped her off over his shoulder and kept walking as if unaffected. Sabine's eyes narrowed and she lurched forward, shoving Sirius in the shoulder. "You mean to tell me it won't be the least bit awkward telling all those whimpering fan girls that you're going out with the usually invisible, impossibly clumsy Gryffindor Nightmare?"

"No, it probably won't because they don't matter to me." Sirius said haughtily. Sabine's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Well, Lily and Severus do matter to me and I want things to be good or at least mildly neutral between you since I'm so fond of you all." Sabine said flatly. Sirius looked to Remus who nodded in agreement with Sabine. He searched James's face and sighed in disappointment to see that he also agreed. "I'm not doing it because I'm ashamed; I'm doing it because I want to save everyone a lot of grief." She grumbled, slugging him lightly in the arm. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and sighed in defeat.

"Alright, alright, I've got it." He mumbled, leaning over and kissing her on top of the head. "Are you worried?"

"Of course I'm worried." Sabine chuckled nervously. She glanced up and saw that Sirius looked more worried than she felt and she smiled, standing on tip-toes. "No matter what happens, it won't change anything, Sirius." She said in a mock chastising tone before giving him a quick kiss. Sirius flipped James off for making sounds of disgust before he bent and kissed Sabine again.

"I feel better, then." He smiled contentedly, taking her hand and dragging her through the gate to the train. She squeezed his hand in excitement before breaking away.

"I'll be in your compartment once I've got them all squared away, alright? Shouldn't be too bad with Lily." She smiled weakly. "It's Sev that worries me most." She sighed before taking of to find them. After the fifth compartment window she'd peeked through she finally saw Lily with her head on Sev's shoulder and sighed in a mixture of relief and nervousness.

"Hey, you two." She said awkwardly as she stepped in. "How was break?"

"Good and yourself?" Lily smirked, eyebrow cocked in suggestion. Sabine's eyes fell to the floor as she twisted her shirt hem.

"It was good. I'm going out with Sirius now." She mumbled. Silence filled the compartment and she finally looked up to see their jaws hanging slack. "Well, I told you I liked him, now!" she started. Severus's eyes narrowed and he glared at Sabine as Lily stammered angrily.

"Well, certainly you said you liked him but I had a bit more faith in you than that!" Lily yelped. Sabine looked at her pleadingly and Lily softened just a bit. "I suppose… you can't control who you… like." Lily forced out begrudgingly. Severus turned to gape at his girlfriend. Lily shot him a look and Severus stiffened.

"She, uh… she has a point." He forced out. "But I don't like it at all."

"It's not like I'm betraying or replacing you. I still love you guys with all my heart and I always will." Sabine said in relief, throwing her arms around them. "I thought you'd never speak to me again."

"Well, it may have lasted a few days but you'll always be our little Sabine." Lily smiled softly. "Sorry. About the freaking out, I mean."

"Totally understandable, Lil." Sabine shrugged. "Sirius can be a total goon and I'm hoping to show him the light in all this." She laughed. "I already told him he's supposed to be nicer to you and the same goes for you."

"Deal." Severus sighed reluctantly, knowing exactly who it was that she had been referring to. Sabine nodded with finality and sighed.

"I suppose I'll leave you two love birds alone." She said in obvious relief. "Sirius was really worried about what you'd say and whether I'd break up with him if you didn't agree with it all. I promised him I'd tell him what happened after I talked to you guys." She explained as she stepped out. They waved goodbye and, if Sabine could wager a guess, had probably begun snogging like mad once she'd stepped outside. She jogged down to the compartment the Marauder's always shared and stepped in with a sigh, flopping next to Sirius and resting her head comfortably on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her, searching her face for a reaction.

"Well?!" he begged. "What happened?"

"They're fine. A little upset, but otherwise alright." Sabine smiled. "They seemed to remember that a certain friend of theirs is the only person approving of their own relationship and subsequently felt stupid." She smirked, replacing her head on his shoulder and sighing contentedly as she left it there until it was time to change.

Once they'd finished changing, Sabine fidgeted out of nerves. The idea of having to deal with the many girls that found her now boyfriend to be the object of their undying attention, was a bit frightening. Being that she was not someone that many of them knew, she felt maybe she could get by for a few days until someone figured out that she was the lack-luster friend of Lily Evans, the only Gryffindor that had sunk low enough to date a Slytherin and the also good friend of said Slytherin, Severus Snape. She knew that at the point that particular morsel of juicy gossip flowed freely from the lips of her sadistic classmates, all bets for her safety were off. She was shaken suddenly from her thoughts as Sirius linked arms with her, smiling his charming grin, and leading her towards the carriages to return to Hogwarts once more. The warm of the Great Hall was welcoming and a happy change from the cold of the horseless carriage ride.

"Erm, Lily?" Sirius asked awkwardly, tapping the girl sitting next to Sabine at the Gryffindor table. She raised her eyebrows in a mock pleasant smile. "C-could I possibly sit next to Sabine?" he asked. Sabine nudged her hard in the side and nodded towards the other side of the table.

"Absolutely." She mumbled, sneering at Sabine and taking a seat between James and Peter. "Hello, Peter." She smiled kindly, completely ignoring James. Sabine completely ignored Dumbledore's welcome back speech as she searched the crowd for anyone that might be whispering and pointing. Sirius noticed her leering around the tables and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he laughed. "What are you looking at?"

"I was just-" Sabine cut herself off. "Can't a girl look around the room and take in what she's been missing?" she asked defensively. Sirius put his hands up in defeat and rolled his eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Oh, 'course you can. Pardon me, continue looking lecherous." He chuckled, as he finished his meal. Sabine couldn't help but feel comforted once he'd replaced his arm around her waist, where it had spent most the time they'd spent together over break. "Feel a bit more relaxed?"

"A bit." Sabine sighed. "We'll see about tomorrow." Then, from a few seats down, she noticed two girls watching them and whispering and her shoulders sunk. Sirius followed her eyes and couldn't help but smirk.

"That is what you've been worried about?" he asked incredulously. Sabine shrugged in embarrassment.

"Well, look at them. Usually no one notices me." She smiled weakly.

"I noticed you." He said softly before kissing her on the nose.

"Oh, bloody hell." Lily groaned. "That is so much more disturbing to watch than I thought it might be. It can't be that bad when Sev and I do it."

"Oh, it is." Sabine chuckled, nuzzling into Sirius. James made a retching noise which Sabine was surprised to hear Lily, Remus and Peter mimicking along with him.

"Oh, shut up!" Sirius laughed.

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**_Now, wasn't that cute? Of course it was. Now, you, review! Con-crit, suggestions, theories, ideas, bring them to me and recieve my utter, pure, authory love. _**


	14. Stolen Shirts, Slap Fights, Scotch Rival

**_AN: Finals and Holidays are over! I was surprised at this one. Just something cute that establishes some rivalry you'll be seeing more of later. Short, I know, but I'm still working away on everything. I had a good time writing two cute little shorts also, that you might enjoy. Little comedy 'what ifs' about a few of my favorites *coughRemusSiriuscough* lol Anyway, here's all that then. I've really enjoyed no pressure writing, lately. More so than usual. It's kinda nice. _**

**_Well, enjoy the update. I'm confident you'll be seeing at least another before school starts up again. Thanks for reading. Reviews would be appreciated!_**

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After dinner, Sabine let Lily lead her to their dorm room immediately, shooting a quick apologetic smile towards Sirius as he took a seat on the couch between James and Remus. She let her trunk drop onto the floor with a dusty slap and took a seat on it to slip off her shoes.

"Are you really that worried about what the other girls are going to say about you being with him?" Lily asked suddenly, with great interest.

"Very worried." Sabine sighed quietly, slipping her socks off and feeling the comforting cold floor beneath her feet. She quickly changed from her robe to a pair of black sweat pants and a black undershirt she had stolen from Sirius. She turned to see Lily giving her a wide eyed look of amused surprise. Sabine returned the look and put her hand on her hip. "Don't say anything because I know you have three or four of Sev's shirts."

"Well, yeah, but mine don't smell like a cheap hooker." Lily laughed. Sabine threw a pillow at her.

"Neither does mine, twit." Sabine laughed, sticking her tongue out. "It smells like Sirius who in fact does not smell like a cheap hooker." She grumbled, slipping her feet into the warm, fuzzy slippers that her brother had given her before she left, claiming that a cold stone floor would induce frostbite.

"Are you going back to the common room or are you going to go to sleep early?" Lily asked, throwing on a green and silver plaid robe. Sabine gaped at her and Lily sighed, slipping the robe off her shoulders. "Bad idea, I wasn't thinking." She mumbled, putting on her Gryffindor robe.

"Yes, I'm going downstairs." Sabine chuckled. "You should come."

"Oh, of course, now that I'm directly connected to them I completely feel like I should spend time with them." Lily said in sarcastic agreement. Sabine rolled her eyes, waving off her friends comments and throwing her robe on before heading down. Lily yelped and followed quickly. "Joking! I don't want to be up there when McBride and all those other gits file in to file complaints."

"Thanks." Sabine said flatly, leaping the last three steps and hopping over the back of the couch next to Sirius.

"For what?" Sirius asked. Sabine shook her head and shot a glare at Lily.

"Not you." She smiled. "I was thanking Lily for being her usual helpful self and reminding me to be nervous all over again."

"Oi, it wasn't intentional." Lily yelped defensively. "You worry too much."

"She's right." Sirius said simply. Sabine gaped at them before crossing her arms tightly. "Don't get defensive just because we're right."

"You're terrible." Sabine pouted.

"You're lucky you're cute." Sirius smirked, attempting to lighten her mood. Sabine sneered playfully and settled in to have a nice long chat with her friends.

"Everyone ready for Divination tomorrow?" James asked, frowning in disgust for the class he so hated. His answer was a collective groan and Sabine buried her head in Sirius' shoulder. Just as she looked up a balled up sock hit her in the forehead. McBride, the girl whom she had begun to have a developing amount of fights with over the years, was standing before her with her hands on her hips and her unnatural red hair hanging perfectly around her face. Sabine gaped for a moment, completely affronted. She looked at Sirius, who had his head bowed but was obviously paying attention curiously.

"What the bloody hell was that, McBatty?" Sabine asked with an edged tone, giving the girl the chance to explain herself before allowing herself to destroy her enemy. McBride shifted her hips to one side and smirked as her eyes narrowed.

"Just wishing the happy couple many happy returns." She sneered. Sabine started to shake she was so angry and made to stand. Sirius pulled her back to the couch and kept himself as close to her as he could without physically climbing on to her.

"Get off me, I have to hurt her." Sabine said levelly, expecting that to be enough. Sirius couldn't fight the laugh but shook his head.

"Love, it really isn't worth the time in detention." Sirius said calmly. Sabine mumbled something under her breath and kept her seat as she stared. McBride looked victorious as she raised her chin pompously. Lily stuck out her foot as McBride walked passed, tripping the girl slightly and looking off innocently.

"Oi, you traitorous cretin, watch your sail boat feet." McBride yelped at Lily. James' eyes went wide.

"Hey, Lily has dainty feet, thank you very much." He said in defense. Lily stared at him dumbly and things began to break up completely at that point. Sadie McGovern, a good friend of Bonnie McBride's, came to her aid.

"You only say that because you want into Lily's ickle dainties." She yelped, throwing one of the wizard's chess pieces at him and thwacking him in the head. "Goon, leave my friend alone."

"Tell you friend to stop acting like a high and mighty wench and maybe he would!" Remus yelled, much to the surprise of both his enemies and adversaries. "It isn't our fault your friend has no class or intellect." He said, which was a bit more expected than his original comment.

"See what you did, now, McBride, you've got everyone yelling at everyone else just because you're a jealous little git." Sabine said reasonably. McBride scowled and picked up a vase. Sabine felt a jolt of fear that she might throw the whole damn vase at her but then felt a second's worth of relief as she watched her remove the flowers and stride a bit closer. "Don't you dare." Sabine warned. With that, McBride splashed the water on her and Sabine launched herself across the room onto her enemy. Sirius watched his surroundings with eyes wide before trying his best to pull Sabine from the shrieking Gryffindor beneath her.

"Sabine! Sab- Sabine! Come on. Love, please." He pleaded, grabbing her arm and trying her best to pull before he saw that Sabine had wrapped her legs around the girl beneath her to pin her arms down. "Merlin's pants, girl, will you get off her?!" he yelped, half laughing. Sabine got in one last merciless slap before sliding off. She turned to see that Lily was doing the same thing to McGovern and that James and Remus had just managed to pull her off as well.

"Bloody Scotch tramp always running that yap of yours." Lily spat at the girl that McBride was helping up. "Take your perfect little puckered faces back to your rooms and stay the bloody hell out of our way!" Lily called after the two thoroughly red faced as they ran upstairs. "And pick a different room!"

"Bloody hell, Lily, that was brilliant." James said with a huge grin. Lily brushed herself off in a huff and gave him a curt nod of appreciation. Sabine stood with her fists clenched, hearing McBride and McGovern dragging their trunks across the hall into another dorm and finally allowing herself to relax. She turned and gave Sirius a mutinous glare.

"Why did you pull me off her?" she grumbled before taking a seat back on the couch. Sirius opened his mouth to speak and could only frown.

"Because I'd rather not see you get a detention over something that stupid." He retorted. "You'll likely be getting quite a few detentions this year for things quite similar but it seemed like a waste to start so early." Sabine shot him a narrow eyed glare and sighed in frustration. "Is this going to be a problem for you, having girls like her acting like that?"

"It probably wouldn't be if you weren't the irresistible one in the relationship." She mumbled, pouting heavily. Sirius cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't make me get sappy and tell you I think you're irresistible, it's not like me." He said, satisfied to see that a smirk was tugging at the corners of her mouth despite her resolute silence. He gave an exasperated sigh and flopped next to her, slowly sliding an arm around her shoulder. She shivered a bit and fought to keep her tough exterior. Those around them were completely unsurprised to find that for the couple on the couch, the room was probably empty. "Love, you're irresistible and your unabashed toughness makes my heart a flutter." He said, placing his free hand over his heart. Sabine slugged him playfully.

"You're scaring the other Gryffindors." She finally smiled, feeling as though she hadn't just attempted to literally slap someone stupid. Sabine leaned close and rested her head on Sirius' shoulder, feeling comforted that such an unlikely thing had really happened and she really was dating someone that was twice the boyfriend he'd been made out to be. "I haven't ever had to deal with people looking at me like this, not you or anyone else that is jealous, so it's hard." She explained. Sirius nodded.

"You'll have to learn, Sab." He said simply with a shrug. "I know it'll be rougher for you but I'm going to have to put up with people like that, too. Would have been easier if you were outgoing." He chuckled. Sabine cocked an eyebrow.

"Thanks, darling." She said flatly.

"I'll be there to help you, Sab. I had to put up with it, too." Lily said comfortingly. "You're there when people say things about Sev and I."

"Yeah, and you're there for me when I get hassled about liking Lily, since no one in Gryffindor really likes her." James said, obviously not thinking about his words. Lily mashed his toes and shot him a glare. "Or other things." He said quickly as he gave her a sheepish and apologetic smile.

"Alright, I get it." Sabine said. "I'm heading to bed to check for booby traps. I'll likely have to scourgify my bed and check for toads." She sighed heavily as she gave Sirius a kiss and followed Lily to bed.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day." Lily sighed. Sabine grunted in tired agreement and closed their door behind them.

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**_Hope you liked it! Please review, and maybe go read my others? Yes? I'll pass out cookies when I've gotten what I want from you people. lol Hope you liked it._**


	15. Confessions, Notes and Arguments

_AN: So someone commented on this story YELLING at me ::cough cough:: Seattlelover7 ::cough cough:: and complained how it had been a really long time since I'd updated last. ::shifty eyes:: Well, I was actually working on this update, short and not great, I know, but I figured I'd just post this and keep working. _

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"They really aren't so bad…" Lily mumbled from her bed. The room was pitch-black but Lily could tell by the rustling of fabric that Sabine had sat up abruptly in her bed. It was three in the morning and all the other girls were sleeping.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Sabine asked, her smirk apparent in her voice. "Because it sounded like you just said the Marauders weren't so bad."

"Don't make me hit you." Lily groaned. "Remus is a very good friend to you and Sirius makes a great boyfriend. Peter seems to adore you as part of the group. Even James," she paused to shudder audibly. "seems to treat you like a younger sister."

"Are you truly conceding in this particular battle?" Sabine laughed quietly so she didn't wake the other girls.

"I'm being serious here, Sabine, they seem like genuinely nice guys. I never would have thought they would fight for you or try to keep you out of trouble." Lily whispered seriously. She rolled over to face Sabine and lit her wand. Sabine laid back down and faced her. "I think they're good for you."

"Does that mean that you're willing to hang out with them?" she asked hopefully. Lily sighed sadly.

"You know I could never do that." She said in a low voice. Sabine nodded sadly. "Sev would be heart broken and I don't think they'll ever get along. Not with all they've put one another through. And you cannot tell him that I've said any of this."

"Promise, Lil." Sabine smiled. They reached across the space between their beds and hooked pinkies. "I'm not happy about it but it's true and I promise I'll never tell him or them that you said it. Not even Sirius."

"Thanks, Sab." Lily smiled.

"What are best mates for?" Sabine chuckled. They both turned to face the ceiling and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Sabine woke to find that Lily had already left for breakfast, more than likely so she could get a good seat at the Slytherin table. The Slytherin's had taken to disgustedly accept Lily and Severus's relationship much like that Gryffindors had. Sabine dressed quickly and headed downstairs and to the Great Hall for breakfast. She found that Sirius had saved her a seat and quite a few more people had noticed it. Exchanging a quick kiss with him, she took the empty space next to him and got herself some breakfast.

"What do you want to do after class, love?" Sirius asked her casually. Sabine glanced over to see Lily and Severus smiling and talking and she suddenly missed them.

"If Lily and Sev aren't too busy I was thinking that the three of us might catch up. I didn't see them over break at all and I miss them." She said quietly with a shrug. Sirius sighed heavily but didn't say anything. "Sirius, they're my best mates."

"I didn't say anything." He said coldly. Sabine's eyes narrowed.

"I know you hate Sev, and I can bloody tell that you aren't fond of Lily but they are my friends." She snapped. "You don't like them but I do."

"Can't you just hang out with me, Remus, James, and Peter?" he asked in a very annoyed tone.

"Can't you just suck it up and deal with the fact that even though you hate them they have always been there for me?" she challenged. "I don't want to fight with you, Sirius, but you are properly mental if you think I'm going to stop spending time with my best mates just because you have a grudge or something."

"Fine." Sirius said simply.

"You're an arse." Sabine mumbled, shoving her plate away from her and stomping off. James, Peter, and Remus, who had been sitting before them the entire time, totally unnoticed, watched Sabine's form grow smaller as she walked away. Their heads turned in unison to look at Sirius whose fists were balled tightly as he glared ahead of him.

"I cannot win this one, can I?" he growled.

"Nope." James said meekly. Sirius sighed and let his head fall onto the table with a thump.

"Bugger." He groaned. "But I hate him so much. He is such a little weasel. A sniveling, slimy, snarky, disgusting little weasel. Why can't she tell he's a weasel?"

"Because she knows him better than we do?" Peter asked in a weak voice. Remus nodded his agreement. Sirius pounded his fist on the table and scooted the bench back as he stood. Without another word he stomped off, grabbing Sabine's forgotten bag and heading to their first class. Peter, Remus and James grudgingly followed, knowing that today was not going to be a pleasant day in the least.

"Forget something?" Sirius asked as he plopped Sabine's bag on her desk. She shot him a glare and jerked it away from him, violently ripping it open and slamming her Transfiguration book down on her desk. "You're welcome."

"Get. Away. From. Me." She growled through gritted teeth.

"Sabine-" Sirius was cut off as she put her hand up between them.

"If you want to talk, try the stone wall in the back. You two certainly have similar listening styles." She said coldly. Sirius let out a growl of frustration before sweeping to the back of the room, throwing his bag at a desk and taking a seat to glare at the board. Peter and Remus took seats on either side of him and James took the seat in front. Lily walked in, stopped abruptly, took note of the seating arrangement and demeanors of Sabine and Sirius, rolled her eyes and groaned. She took a seat next to Sabine and leaned over.

"What did the little tosspot do?" she asked.

"We're having an argument about how much of a DUNDERHEADED UNSYMPATHETIC ARSE he is." She explained, letting her description be loud enough for him to hear as she glared daggers at him.

"Please keep your descriptions of Mr. Black to a minimum during class, Ms. Alptraum, and your lovers quarrels may be dealt with on your own time." Professor McGonnagal instructed as she swept gracefully and quickly into the room to start the lesson. Sabine pulled out her notebook and started to take notes. While second years, they'd managed to learn a charm that allowed them to send notes back and forth via their notebooks. In the margins she saw Lily's handwriting scribble a question:

_Lil: Are you alright?_

_Sab: Yeah, I guess so. He just makes me so angry because he can't accept that Sev and I are friends._

There was a pause and Sabine glanced over to see Lily tapping her quill on her chin as she tried to find the best wording for her next question.

_Lil: Are you going to dump him?_

_Sab: No! At least, I don't think so. I don't want to. I just wish he'd understand. _

_Lil: Have you talked to him? I mean properly talked. Yelling doesn't count._

_Sab: A little… Maybe I'll sit the big lump down and try again._

_Lil: Just don't stay mad because he probably has the best of intentions. It's just that he's a guy and he doesn't know how to do anything right._

Sabine stifled a chuckled and glanced over her shoulder to see Sirius, James, Peter and Remus passing notes in a similar way, which was made painfully obvious by the way only one at a time would take notes and then the other three would pour over their notebooks, scribble something, and then look up again.

_Padfoot: She just doesn't get that I don't want to see her hurt!_

_Moony: Pads, they're friends. Listen, I hate him, too. He's Slytherin. But she really does care about him. _

_Padfoot: So what do I do?_

_Prongs: Obviously you apologize, you nonce. Get her flowers or chocolate or something and tell her you were an idiot. Tell her you just worry about her and that you're sorry._

_Padfoot: She doesn't seem stupid enough to fall for that._

_Wormtail: If you tell her you were an idiot, she will._

_Padfoot: If you mess this up any more than it already is I'm going to hex you all into oblivion. _

Sirius leaned back and rubbed his face, feeling tense and annoyed. He glanced towards Sabine to see her spin around and pour over her notes again. He sighed and sunk lower into his seat. Lily cast him an appraising look before sneering at him and turning around in her seat as well.

After only forty-five minutes or so more of lecture, McGonnagal dismissed class. Sirius jogged after Sabine as she left, slipping past Lily. He took Sabine's bag and gave her a sheepish, apologetic smile.

"I was an idiot." He said as he looked down. Sabine nudged him with her shoulder and Sirius wrapped an arm around her.

"Yes, you were." Sabine agreed with a smirk. "But I understand why you get so bent out of shape. I have a feeling that this is going to be a bit of a sticking point for us. However, if you try to understand my friendship and I try to understand that you're just trying to be protective, I think we'll be okay."

"So are we on for after class?" he asked hopefully. Sabine closed her eyes and sighed, stopping dead in her tracks. "O- or, are you and Lily and Sn- I mean Severus already going to hang out?" he asked quickly, cringing. Sabine rolled her eyes and hit him in the stomach with her bag.

"Remember that bit about understanding?" she asked pointedly. Students around them were starting to stare.

"I'm sorry." Sirius said with a nod, hands up in defeat. "You're right. Later? In the common room?" he asked. Sabine softened and let him wrap his arm around her.

"It's going to be hard for us to be understanding, isn't it?" Sabine chuckled. Sirius kissed the top of her head.

"It'd be easier if you were more agreeable, love." Sirius smirked. Sabine squeezed him tighter. Sirius laughed and pinched her side playfully.

"You're such a bastard." Sabine laughed, breaking away. "Alright, I've got History of Magic. I'll see you later." She said, giving him a quick kiss and rejoining Lily.

"Glad to see you're gotten over that little spat." She chuckled.

"Oh, we'll have it again." Sabine shrugged. "But as we understand each other's point of view it'll get easier and maybe eventually we'll stop having it. Until then, we'll at least get to have make-up snogging sessions in the common room, much to the dismay of everyone else." Sabine grinned. Lily rolled her eyes but was unable to fight a smile.

"You are both so very, very vile." She chuckled.

"So, what are we doing after class? I miss you guys. Sit by the lake?" Sabine suggested, holding the door open for Lily as the reached History of Magic. Lily shrugged and took a seat in the back. Sabine joined her. "We could study in the library, sit by the lake, try to make some terribly difficult potion that will likely explode in our faces with hilarious results." She suggested jokingly.

"Let's stick with the lake." Lily laughed. Sabine rolled her eyes.

"You're so boring." She joked, holding the door for Lily as they entered the classroom. They took a seat in the front of the room, as usual, and prepared for a dry lecture.

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IF you love me, you'll review. I slaved over a hot laptop, in a steamy hot room. Please review, please? I know it's not great but c'mooooon.


	16. Alptraum & Evans: Enemies

_A/N: Hey! Long time no... update... Anyway, a new chapter, hurrah! Enjoy, my dears. Big things happen. I'd love to say I'll have more time but my stuff sort of just gets updated at the intersection of Inspiration and Free Time which is a bitch to find on a map, ladies and ... few-and-far-between-gents. Alas, I try my best and I shall never EVER abandon my babies (that's my fics... not you guys. I guess you can be my babies. No. That might be weird. Cuppa? Biscuit? Are we sitting comfortably, loves? Good then.) On with the show!_

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"Am I correct in observing that you and Sirius are once again a happy couple?" Severus asked in a tone tinged with annoyance. Sabine shot him a glare and he softened. "Sorry. It's going to take me a long time to deal with it."

"I probably could have picked an easier boyfriend, Sev." Sabine shrugged, softening as well. "But yes, we're better. I don't think Sirius is going to be someone easy for me to get along with," she sighed heavily. They stopped at their usual tree by the lake and sat down.

Lily leaned close to Severus and sighed in comfort. "Don't worry, Sab, you two will fall into a comfortable rhythm."

"I'd like it, though, if Sirius could come sit with us by the lake but I know that wouldn't work because he'd act like a knob the whole time." Sabine slumped over, a frown crawling across her face. "Now I'm mad at him all over again." She sighed again.

"Severus would act like a knob, too," Lily offered helpfully.

"Oi!" he protested.

"Do not deny that you'd be on edge and that you'd be a little tit about it." Lily wagged her finger at him in warning. Sev gaped for a moment, grasping for a defense but slumped over, crossed his arms tight across his chest, and made pout.

"He deserves it." he mumbled. Lily rolled her eyes.

"He doesn't really deserve it, Sev. He's trying, now, to see the error of his ways. Give him a chance." Sabine asked hopefully. Severus managed a noncommittal grunt as he cuddled tighter to Lily. This time it was Sabine who rolled her eyes. She stood with a heavy sigh and marched off, intending to lose herself in a book to try to relieve the stress she currently felt.

"Bloody hormones." She groaned under her breath.

"Where are you off to?" Lily called after her.

"To a place where everything is perfect and people don't whinge about every stupid thing." She called back flatly. Sabine heard Lily hit Severus in the back of the head and begin to nag him about what he'd said. She sighed another heavy sigh and quickened her pace.

Once she reached the common room, she found that she felt a bit better, being away from Lily and Severus. She let herself drop onto the couch, enjoying the cloud of dust she created in doing so. She summoned a book and stuffed herself into the corner to read.

"You're back early." Sirius said casually, taking a seat next to her. Sabine kicked her legs up and put them across Sirius's lap. "Lily and Sev decide they wanted a little couple's time?" he asked casually.

"Aren't you going to call him Snivellus?" Sabine asked, tone mildly annoyed.

"Has he done something to warrant my anger?" Sirius asked, peeking at her over her book and searching her face for a response.

"No, but you usually slip up." She softened. Sirius gave a short shrug.

"I don't want to make you angry. I'll do my very best to tolerate him. I can be tolerant." Sirius said confidently. A smirk tugged at Sabine's lips but she held it in in an effort to be supportive. "I can be the most tolerant person ever."

"Now you're pushing it." Sabine laughed, dropping the book. Sirius leaned close, pressing his forehead to hers and looking into her eyes.

"I just wanted to see a smile on your gorgeous face, love." He smirked. He pulled back and gave her a quick kiss on the nose. "So, come on, tell me. We had a row about it and everything, why are you back so soon?" he asked.

Sabine sighed heavily. "I just got a little annoyed and Sev. He still has a big problem with you." Sirius stiffened noticeably but kept his composure. "I mean, he has been a pretty consistent target and I know I need to be understanding about him holding a grudge but he could at least try to be nice and hide it a bit better."

"Do you want me to try to apologize to him?" Sirius asked stiffly.

"Well, no, because I know you wouldn't mean it." Sabine cocked an eyebrow and gave Sirius a look as if to say he was a moron. "I wish you _could_ apologize and mean it but at this point I'm just hoping for him to put forth as much effort as you are."

"Well, he hasn't publically condemned our relationship, so there's at least that, right?" Sirius asked. Sabine sighed and turned so that her head was in his lap.

"I guess." She mumbled.

"Stop making me defend him." Sirius said, only half-playfully.

"I just want everyone to get along." She groaned.

"Civility is a lot to ask for, love." Sirius smiled sadly. He pulled Sabine up into a kiss. Lily strolled in and rolled her eyes.

"Sab, Sev said you two mixed up your Ancient Runes parchments that are due tomorrow and he needs to finish his." Lily said in passing. "He said to bring it to dinner and you could swap there."

"Thanks, Lil." Sabine smiled, turning her attention back to Sirius and cuddling up closer to him.

"That's your snogging look." Sirius smirked, putting his forehead to hers once again as he seemed so fond of doing. "I like that look." Sabine only managed a light chuckle before Sirius captured her lips in his.

"There's a site to spoil one's appetite." Remus feigned disgust. "Guys, you've been at it for ages. It's dinner time."

"I think they're just fine eating one another's face, Remus, surely they don't need a meal. They're sated only on their pubescent love and shared saliva." James said whistfully. "I think I just disgusted myself."

Sabine broke away. "I think I heard a high pitched whine, how about you, Sirius?"

"Sounded more like a bumbling, slow sort of moan to me." He sighed, lips red. He straightened his hair and yawned. "We should probably grab a bite, Sab."

"Finally, they see reason." Peter chuckled. Sirius stood and immediately took Sabine's hand. He tugged her close and wrapped his usual protective arm across her shoulders.

"Don't forget Severus's parchment, love." Sirius reminded. Sabine produced it from her pocket and gave it a wave. "Shall we?"

They took a seat in their usual spot and ate slowly, joking as usual. Sabine found herself feeling more at ease than she had in a while and was happy that it was so easy for her to settle into a rhythm with the Marauders. Once she finished eating she headed towards the Slytherin table, as usual unbothered by the leering glances of those surely insulting her for any myriad of reasons. Severus looked more down than usual but she attributed it to the fact that he was usually more prompt with his homework.

"Here you go, Sev." She smiled pleasantly, holding the parchment out for him to take. He snatched it from her hands and almost threw hers at her. The table snickered lightly. Sabine's brows furrowed. "Are you okay?" she asked in genuine concern.

"I'm just fine. Why don't you go back to your table and enjoy your boyfriend and his idiot friends." Severus sneered. Sabine felt an arm snake around her waist and turned to see Sirius smiling pleasantly for the first time ever at someone she knew he would always consider an enemy of his.

"Hello, Severus." Sirius said as casually as he could.

"Go away, Black." Severus sneered more fiercely. Sirius's smile faded but he didn't say a word in defense. Sabine gaped at her friend in shock.

"Severus, he's making an effort. Please." She said sadly. She was surprised at how much he hurt her and how little he seemed to care at this point. "You're one of my best friends, Sev, don't be like that."

"You insist on dating that sorry excuse for a wizard. He only wants one thing. He'll only ever want one thing." Severus barked, standing so quickly that the bench slid back with an echoing scrape-squeak. The Great Hall quieted as people turned their attention to the argument. "And you only want someone that will pay you some attention. You're so used to being the ignored, sad girl in the background that any attention at all suits you fine! You follow on Lily's coattails during classes, you always hang around with us because you don't have any other friends. Now you're dating a boy who's idea of a relationship is a snog or a shag in a broom closet and holding hands for a week before moving on! The stupid Marauders probably laugh at you behind your back. But I'm sure that suits you, too, because at least someone is paying attention! I bet you don't even really like Sirius! It's just mutual pity and fodder for a laugh!" Severus yelled.

Sabine could only gape at the boy before her. "Severus, you're supposed to be like my brother," was the only thing she could manage after a long pause.

His chest heaved and his hands clenched into fists. "You're already got a brother, Sabine." He said, coldly.

Her eyes welled with tears that should have been comforted by Sirius wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"You will more than regret every word you just said to her." Sirius hissed.

"You act as if you'll be around long enough, Black, to see that happen." Severus smirked coldly, spinning on his heel and leaving in a cloud of billowing cape. Sabine bent to pick up her parchment and turned to find herself face to face with Lily.

"Can you believe what he said to her?" Sirius snapped, once again pulling Sabine into a hug. Lily locked her eyes with Sabine.

"Sab, I-" She stopped herself.

"Why would he say those things?" Sabine demanded as a sob shook its way through her.

"That's just how he feels." Lily shrugged weakly.

"That's no excuse!" Sirius snapped.

"Well, you certainly didn't come to her defense nor did you deny what he said!" Lily snapped back just as fiercely. Sabine choked back another sob.

"Are you defending what Severus said to me?" Sabine demanded as a wave of anger jolted through her. "I rode your coattails? I'm in the background? I'm attention starved?" She yelled at her friend. Lily took a step forward. "You're the one going out of your way to be different! You're the one dating that bipolar knob! He just screamed at your best friend because he can't pull is head out of his arse!"

"Your problem is that your head is in the clouds, Sabine." Lily shook her head. "Grow up. Be realistic."

"I don't ever want to speak to you again, Evans." Sabine said, finding that Sirius's hug had turned into him holding her back. "If you or your Death Eater boyfriend ever speak to me again I swear you'll regret it." Lily cringed at the words 'Death Eater' and she recoiled.

"Don't worry, we won't be bothering you or your Marauder muppets again." Lily hissed, turning on her heel and following Severus's path from the Great Hall. Sabine managed to save face until Lily was out of sight before she crumpled to her knees and began to cry. It didn't seem to bother her that she was the center of attention for a crowd that had begun to whisper. Gryffindors on their way out gave looks of sympathy and some even said a few words of support. Sirius managed to get Sabine to her feet.

"Come on, love. I know it hurts. I'm sorry." He said sadly. "Maybe they were just having bad days. It probably won't last." He seemed even less sure of that than Sabine felt and she felt as if Lily Evans and Severus Snape were dead to her.

"I don't bloody care if either of them die in Fiend Fyre." She sniffled. "Evans doesn't belong in Gryffindor. She's an evil little Slytherin like he is. I don't know why I ever defended him. He's a weasel. Go ahead. Say it. You were right."

"I might not have been, love. Don't tempt me into claiming victory too soon now." He chuckled lightly, giving her a nudge as he led her back towards the common room. Sabine managed to crack a barely-existent, sad smile.

"I've lost my only friends, love." Sabine sighed, flopping onto the couch. Sirius sat down beside her and held her to his chest.

"They aren't your only friends, love. And they aren't lost, yet." Sirius said comfortingly. He stroked her hair. "You have me, and James, and Remus and Peter. And McBatty."

"Good point. Lily Evans is more deserving of a vase to the head than batty old McBatty." Sabine managed another sad smile. Both were jolted from their calm reverie as the painting that served as the entrance to their common room swung open with a loud slap. James, Remus and Peter rushed in looking proud.

"What did you do?" Sirius asked, knowing all too well what this particular look of pride meant.

"Let's just say that Severus Snape won't be sitting right for a very long time and that Lily Evans will he sporting skunk-scented, purple hair for a good long while as well. We wanted the couple to match but that felt too cheesy." James said. "It was sad to see her gorgeous red hair go but she deserved it for how she treated you, Sab."

Sabine smiled a sad smile. "Thanks, guys, but you really didn't have to do that."

"No, but consider it a feel-better-soon gift." Remus chuckled.

"You should have seen Snivellus when the bees started to swarm his bum!" Peter snickered. He and James high-fived. Remus gave Sabine an apologetic smile that nearly made her start crying all over again. It spoke a lot more than she figured she could stand to hear at this point.

Sirius resumed stroking her hair and she settled back in to resting her head on his chest. "I just don't get what made him act like that!" she yelped after a long silence that saw the common room clear out. "He's always been like another brother to me. In some ways he and I were closer than Lily and I."

"Don't tear yourself up worrying about it, Sab." Sirius sighed. "Severus probably had a bad day. If he's as you always told me he was then he might have had a particularly hard day dealing with the pressure from all of his sleazy housemates on him about Lily."

"Normally he'd tell me about it. We'd talk. He's never acted like he thought I was beneath him before." Sabine shook her head. "He's never treated me like he thought I was a second-class citizen."

"Maybe he's caving to all the disgusting pure blood talk." Sirius said cautiously, voice displaying genuine sadness. Sabine hugged him tighter.

"I don't like that." She said, scared. "If someone like Severus can fall to that ideology then what chance is there, Sirius? Besides, he's still with Lily."

"That's true." Sirius nodded. "Well, maybe he's just a whingey little twit who needs his arse kicked." Sirius suggested. Sabine managed a laugh.

"That's the verdict until something better comes along." Sabine yawned, feeling emotionally exhaustion deeper than she ever had. "I feel so lost." She whimpered, slipping slowly to sleep.

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_I should really get a beta but I don't write regularly enough. Hmm... We shall see..._


	17. Missing: Alptraum's Confidence and Mind

_AN: *tumbleweeds* …. *peeks from around a corner*… *tumbleweeds* G-… guys? Hey… Uh, yeah… I totally love you guys if you're still reading this. I know it's been forever but you guys probably know, by now, that sometimes my mind goes –BOOOM- and I can't, like, write good (shuddup, that's intentional) because of life and junk. Anyway, here's a 9  
(NINE, NUEVO, et cetera, et cetera) PAGE update. I'm looking for a beta that would accept, like, random updates, totally out of the blue. I'm not thinking that is something I shall find. *sigh*_

_I love you guys for reading this. I hope you know that. I know that it isn't anywhere near being as good as a lot of the other stuff on FFN but I love writing it and I just hope that you guys enjoy it._

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Sabine took her usual seat next to Lily in the front row of potions. She held her head high, despite the pain she felt over everything that had happened. Slughorn seemed to notice and smiled in his usual condescending way.

"Best mates tiff?" he asked Sabine, nodding as though he understood. Sabine felt herself being immersed in rage. She glared daggars at Slughorn.

"What page, sir?" She asked coldly. Lily leaned over towards Slughorn.

"Sabine's usually a bit angry after she spends a long night on the couch with her boyfriend." She said, locking eyes with Sabine and sneering as she spoke.

"Thank you, Evans, but I don't believe anything you say holds much water as you're known to cavort with people who so dislike those of us without the purest of blood." Sabine spat back.

"Oi, shut it, you twit."

"I'd rather be a twit than traitor."

"Ladies, Dumbledore's office. Now." Slughorn spat, grabbing them both by the collar and leading them outside. "Arthur Weasley, kindly remove these two students from my classroom. 20 points will be deducted from your house, 10 each."

"Evans, Alptraum, move it." Arthur snarled, obviously furious at the large deduction.

"Slag." Lily mumbled.

"Tramp." Sabine replied.

"Silence! Both of you!" Arthur yelled. They finally reached Dumbledore's office and Arthur gave the password, leading them up the winding stairs. He left them in the waiting room and carefully entered Dumbledore's office. He stepped out a few moments later and nodded. "I'll be heading back to class. Both of you will be serving detention with Filch if you don't straighten up."

Both girls pushed their way into Dumbledore's office. They took seats, both sneaking furtive glances at the headmaster to try to interpret his expression.

"Lily Evans and Sabine Alptraum, the inseparable, best mates usually known for academic prowess," Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair and steepling his hands. Sabine felt the urge to snort derisively because she knew that he knew that she was an average student. His eyes danced back and forth as he regarded the two students before him as they shrunk in their seats, "am I correct in hearing that, Miss Evans, you cast aspersions on Miss Alptraum's sleeping habits as of last night? And that, Miss Alptraum, you believe Miss Evans to be some sort of traitor?"

"I was only observing that when I woke this morning, Sabine and Sirius were asleep together on the couch in the common room." Lily said coldly, looking down her nose at Sabine. Sabine's grip on the arms of her chair tightened.

"Oh, she's correct, Professor." Sabine snapped sarcastically at Lily. "After Severus and Lily yelled at and insulted me in the Great Hall, I fell asleep with Sirius as he tried to get me to stop crying." Sabine's voice was getting hoarse and she turned away. "That would also be the root of my traitor comment."

"You know full well you've got some vendetta against Slytherins, now!" Lily yelled.

"You mean those pure-blood bastards who snicker and look down at both of us for being sub-human? Yeah, you're right. I'm too harsh." Sabine snapped. "Piss off, Evans."

"Enough!" Dumbledore's voice rumbled through his office and both girls were shaken and silent. "Sabine, you will hold your tongue before using such language or making such comments about your fellow students. Lily, you will do well to hold your tongue before you attempt to spread rumors about your housemates. If I hear of either of you fighting, it'll be detention until you're children are 2nd years!"

"Pardon, Professor." Lily said, hanging her head.

"I'm sorry." Sabine sighed, looking down as well.

"As of right now, you're off with a warning. One more lip out of line and you'll both be in detention. I'm appalled at your actions, both of you. You're dismissed. If you're late to your next class inform your teachers of your visit to my office." Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair and watching both students cautiously as they made a silent exit. Lily shot a sneer at Sabine as soon as they were back to the hall but Sabine pushed forward and ignored her. She met Remus a few moments later as they headed towards Herbology.

"I heard you were sent to see Dumbledore." He said sadly. Sabine gave a curt nod and gritted her teeth. "You'll get better at handling her, you know. Either you'll make up or you won't let her bother you anymore. If she's going to treat you this way then she isn't worth it, Sabs." Remus said, pulling Sabine into a hug as her lower lip started to twitch.

"I don't think I can go to Herbology." She said, voice muffled. Remus chuckled softly and pulled away.

"Then how will you ever show her up, get under her skin, and drive her so crazy that she folds?" he asked slyly. Sabine laughed as she wiped her eyes. "Besides that, Sirius will go mad with worry." He smiled, tugging her along. They made it to class just in time and Sirius met Sabine with open arms.

"I'm sorry about what happened between you two in potions, love." He said simply. He wrapped an arm around her protectively and she felt better for it. James crowded in next to her, Remus took a place behind her being that he could easily see over her head, and Peter made a face at her in an attempt to cheer her up. Professor Sprout's lecture about aconite's discovery, which led to it being called Wolfsbane, faded and Sabine looked around at her friends with the sudden realization that even though it hurt that Lily had seemingly tossed her away, she couldn't ask for a better group of friends to cushion the fall. Class ended uneventfully and Sirius laced his fingers through Sabine's.

"Shall we go have a seat at the lake?" He asked. Sabine gave him a look. "S'a big lake, sweets." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"If we see them-"

"Then we'll keep walking until we can't." Sirius shrugged. Sabine sighed but let Sirius wrap an arm around her shoulder. "You need cheering up. A cuddle by the lake is just the thing. I even…" he paused, tugging at his rucksack, "brought some good old Wizard's Blanket."

"Fire whiskey!" Sabine clapped her hands before throwing her arms around her boyfriend. "Booze do a bad day some good. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Sirius took Sabine's hand and they began their leisurely walk to the farthest weeping willow they could find along the shore of the lake. Once finding one with satisfactory cover, Sirius leaned against the trunk and Sabine took a seat between his legs, leaning back against him. He wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"Shall we leave the fire whiskey for some other time?" He asked contentedly. Sabine sighed in her own contentment and gave a nod. "So, would you like to start a rant now or work into one?" Sirius asked with a smirk. Sabine shot him a look over her shoulder and elbowed him playfully as a smile twitched at her lips.

"I'm just hurt and disappointed." She said after a pause. Sirius held her tighter. "Honestly, Lily and I have been friends for ages. It's been…" She paused again, tabulating the length of their friendship. "It's been 5 years. I mean, yeah, sure, whatever, Severus and I were closer but obviously he isn't who I thought but-" Sirius interrupted her.

"The way you're talking, I think Severus's saying what he said hurt you more." He said gently before leaning over and kissing her shoulder.

Sabine let out a long-suffering, mournful sigh and started to pick at the hem of her shirt. "I really thought Severus understood me. Lily… Lily is at least sort of well-liked. She's social and bright and she's just got this personality that makes everyone at ease. I walk in, all thumbs, looking frumpy and … 'unconventional', shall we say, and everyone just sort of says 'Well, that's Sabine. Moving on to something more interesting…' and Severus talked to me like I wasn't the weird, mean, frumpy girl. He talked to me like I was a person. Not that Lily didn't, don't misunderstand me." Sabine could feel herself shaking as she got more and more worked up. "But Lily couldn't ever understand that I was walking around so self-conscious that I'm not entirely sure how I ever made it." Sabine frowned deeply and paused, looking down at her lap. "And there I go, talking about myself all the time. I just… I frustrate myself. I'm sorry."

Sirius pulled her even tighter to himself and kissed her temple. "Love, you have got to stop being your own worst enemy because the way things are, all of us have enough enemies and it's only going to get worse." His tone was wise but gentle. Sabine gave another long sigh.

They were broken from their reverie by the sound of familiar laughter and the unfortunately familiar screams of anger and fright. They exchanged a look before taking off towards the noise.

"Let him down now, you deplorable, disgusting bullies!" Lily cried, pointing her wand at James. Between them, hanging upside down and pawing towards his attackers, was Severus. Sabine thanked Sirius for biting back the instinctive laugh with a quick, affectionate look. "Oh, now I suppose you two are going to join in 5 to 2. Unsurprising." Lily's words were filled with venom.

"James, leave it. He isn't worth it." Sabine said in desperation. Remus looked nervous but stood behind his friend, giving Sabine a quick look of apology. Peter was grinning ear to ear and eyeing Severus menacingly. "James, stop!"

"Shut up, Sabine!" James spat at her. "Just back off, this doesn't concern you." His voice was as venomous as Lily's was when they'd first arrived.

Sabine's eyebrows raised and she took a step back into Sirius, who appeared to be looking at his best friend in a state of shock.

"Not so quick to defend you now, is he, Sabine?" Lily said, reveling in the look of pain that was creeping into Sabine's eyes. Sirius stammered a moment before pushing past Sabine.

"James, stop!" He yelled, trying to break his friend's concentration. "And apologize to my girlfriend, you tit, that was out of order!" He appeared to have collected himself.

"Suck on that, Evans." Sabine snorted. She turned her attention to Severus for a moment. "James, _he probably deserved it,_" she spat at Lily then turned to James, "but leave it, please?" She asked. James wavered for a moment before Sirius walloped him upside the head.

Severus hit the ground like a ton of bricks but immediately raised his wand. Red shot from the tip as he silently cast and James was thrown backwards. Severus dabbed his hands at the small gash on his forehead and seeing the blood on his hand renewed his anger.

Lily rushed to him to help him.

"Get off!" Severus spat, shoving her hard enough to send her crashing to the ground.

James and Sirius had erupted into a fight on the ground, which Remus and Peter were attempting to break up.

Lily once again rushed to Severus, a bit more cautious, and tried to wrap an arm across his shoulder. He shoved her again and she landed on the ground, hurt and tears burning her eyes. He gave her a look of disgust. "I don't need some stupid mudblood girl helping me!"

All eyes whipped to look at him and not a sound could be heard but everyone's gasp of breath. Severus surveyed the group around him in disgust and stomped off towards the castle, leaving his sobbing girlfriend in the dust.

Sabine stared at Lily with a mixture of vindication and sadness tightening in her chest.

Sirius slowing walked over to help Lily up and, surprisingly, she let him.

Sabine's eyes narrowed. "Not so bloody nice when Snivellus turns his sharp little tongue on you, is it?" She spat bitterly. Lily recoiled into Sirius and locked her red-rimmed eyes with Sabine's. "How's it feel having your boyfriend do exactly what you and he told me mine would? You didn't matter a bit to him." She snapped further, taking a step towards Lily and withdrawing her wand.

Remus grabbed her shoulder and tugged her back. "Don't do anything you'd regret, Sab." He said wisely. Sabine, shoved him away. By now, the feeling of vindication and all the built up anger were taking over. Tears stung her eyes.

"Sabine, you've crossed a line." Sirius said seriously. Sabine looked at him as if they'd never met before. "I know you're mad but she was your best friend."

"Leave Lily alone, Sabine." James said in a tone of warning. "There's no need to bully her." He said protectively.

"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, James?" Sabine snapped, hot tears still streaming quickly down her cheeks. She stuck out her chin and tried to fight the anger and the hurt that was aching in her chest.

"What is your problem?" Sirius growled. "Calm down!"

"My problem is that I got mad at Severus but maybe he was right." Sabine responded in disgust.

Sirius shove past Lily and closed in on Sabine, who was eyeing him with tears burning her eyes and a whole new pain tightening in her chest. "Clearly you guys were just using me to get closer to Lily." She sniffled. "I should have known better than you trust you."

She shoved Sirius hard but he managed to only take a step back. He gave her a shove back.

"Love, you are screwed in the head." He chuckled bitterly. Sabine turned on her heel and marched towards Hogwarts. "Honestly, you've gone off the deep end."

"As if it needs saying, but you're back to being the single ladies man you love being." She called after them. "I don't ever even want to see your stupid face. Any of you!"

Sirius reached the castle with a wave of regret and a wave of anger having already hit him. His hope of finding Sabine to talk were dashed as they all entered the common room to find various items they'd given Sabine, as gifts, etc, laying in piles sorted to each person. On top of Sirius's pile was a book that he hadn't seen before.

"I don't want anything that crazy git has ever set her hands on." Lily pouted, still keeping a safe distance from James. She kicked her pile over and flopped onto the couch.

Sirius picked up the book on top of his pile and slowly opened it. Inside was the title, 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', and Sabine had written, then very recently tried to cross out a note: 'Happy Birthday, Love! I know it's cheesy and stupid and these fairy tales don't all have happy endings but I'm glad you're my Prince Charming. Even if we don't get a happy ending, I'm happy enough knowing that right now I get to see you smile. Love, Sabine'. He sighed heavily and threw the book across the room, stomping up to the boys dorms. He slowed as he passed the girl's dorms and felt a pang in his chest in hearing what was obviously Sabine crying.


	18. Liam Weasley, Man of Mystery

_AN: Hey, guys! Hopefully, I'll be writing more on this and my other stories more. I've even taken on a beta job for someone! Anyway, this one is 6 pages! Holy crap! Lol Anyway, Sabine has some things to overcome, as you'll soon see. I don't want to jinx myself by saying you should expect more really, really soon but it certainly feels like I might be writing more, now. Enjoy!_

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The next morning, Sabine opened her eyes and stared at the canopy above her. She felt no desire or motivation, nor did she feel as though she had the energy, to get up. She had no classes to attend and so she figured that bed was the right place. A glance at her clock told her that it was just about 8 a.m. and she let out a heavy sigh. Suddenly, all the anger she felt towards Lily and the Marauders surged back into her chest, irrational anger or not, and she sat up abruptly. Most of her dorm-mates were still sleeping so she quickly grabbed some clothes from her trunk and ran to get showered and dressed. The old Sabine, the one that just wanted things back to normal, fought the idea of dressing in clothes that fit and wearing make-up but the new and still quite angry Sabine trudged past and held her chin high. She checked herself in the mirror and smiled at her reflection.

On her way to breakfast, she noticed that people were already chattering and gossiping about her break-up with Sirius and how surprising it was to see her, the one they thought would have an obviously broken heart, walking around as if nothing had happened. Sabine gave them all pleasant smiles and took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table. She was entirely surprised when an attractive Gryffindor boy in her grade, who's name she couldn't quite remember, sat across from her and gave her what she was beginning to suspect was a slightly flirtatious smile.

"Good morning, Sabine." He grinned, taking an apple and tossing it from hand to hand casually. Sabine stared at him blankly for a moment. "I don't think we've ever met. I'm Liam Weasley." He extended his hand.

Sabine shook it reluctantly and then suddenly remembered that she'd heard quite a lot about Arthur Weasley's younger brother. He was a flirt and a play-boy rivaling Sirius's reputation and very obviously loved attention. She'd heard that while he was nice enough and surely wouldn't hurt a fly, he really did see himself as a rival for Sirius. A smile slowly crept across Sabine's face. "I'm sorry, Liam. I'm sure you've heard. I'm bound to be a bit flustered. Pardon my forgetfulness."

His grin spread wider. "Of course, love! I'm sorry to hear about the split." He said kindly. His sympathetic nod was only betrayed by the grin that refused to leave his face. Sabine thought to herself: he clearly wants to irritate Sirius and get a bit more attention and I wouldn't mind having a jab at him (though in the back of her mind, she hated the idea). "If you need someone to talk to, I'd be more than happy to be there for you. I know it's been hard because of things with Evans and Snape as well."

"Thank you." Sabine said, feeling her smile fall. "I don't really have anyone that I can be myself with." She said a little more honestly than she had wanted.

Liam's smile faltered and he gave her hand a squeeze. Sabine noticed that he looked sad and sympathetic. "You know, McGonagall hasn't left with the group going to Hogsmeade, yet. Would you want to, perhaps, grab a butterbeer?"

"Er…" Sabine paused and looked around, as if searching for an excuse. She noticed Sirius, James, Remus and Peter walk into the Great Hall. They watched her cautiously. Against her better judgment, she turned back and nodded. "Sure."

He gave her a warm smile and he took her hand as they stood. "Good. Hopefully I'll have a good chance to cheer you up, a bit, then."

Sirius's jaw went slack as he watched Sabine stroll out with none other than Liam bloody Weasley. His eyes narrowed and his friends noticed that there was a low growl emanating from his throat.

"To Hogsmeade?" Sirius growled. Remus grabbed his shoulder.

"Sirius, as your friends, we are not going to let you get detention for attempting to murder Liam." He said reasonably. Sirius threw his hand off his shoulder and looked at him mutinously.

"I have done everything I can to help you with Lily, James, surely you wouldn't be as much of a traitor as Mr. Tail-Between-His-Legs." Sirius begged. James bit his lip and turned to Remus, who had crossed his arms in expectation of the answer.

"Sirius…" James paused and rolled his eyes, chest heaving with a heavy sigh. "Are you sure you want to chase after them? I mean, really sure?"

Remus rolled his eyes and headed towards the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, I'm sure." Sirius said, body tensing. He glanced over at Remus, who was loading his plate up with food and completely ignoring his two best friends.

"Sirius, if you want to go hex that tosser into next week, I'm behind you." Peter said, patting his friend on the shoulder apologetically. The three ignored Remus's snort and third or fourth eye-roll.

"Thanks, Peter." Sirius said, loosening his shoulders a bit. James groaned but patted Sirius on the shoulder as well.

"I'll come, too, Sirius." He sighed heavily. He turned and gave Remus an expectant look.

"Oh, no." Remus shook his head. "Do not even start in on me, Potter. If Sirius wants to go get himself bloodied up and looking like an idiot in Sabine's eyes, rather than just someone that she's angry with and possibly regrets her time with, both emotions could easily be dispelled with effort, mind you, then he can do it on his own. Unlike you and Peter, apparently, I genuinely care about Sabine's feelings." He said, giving them all a warning look before tucking into his breakfast once more. Sirius glared at him and clenched his fists.

"Some friend you are." He spat.

" I'll ignore that comment, being that you're completely irrational over the loss of someone you care about." Remus said coolly.

Sirius sped off to catch up with McGonagall with James and Peter reluctantly following him.

Lily slowly slid onto the bench next to Remus and sighed. "She's lucky to have a friend like you, even if she doesn't appreciate it right now."

Remus turned and gave Lily an appraising look before loosening up and turning back to his food. "She appreciates it. She's just got something going on that none of us know about. I just wish she'd see some sense."

"Seeing sense isn't Sabine's strong point." Lily said and Remus noticed that she was wearing a look of sad but fond recollection. "I was such an idiot to treat her that way. I just loved him so much that I thought he might hate me. He's been getting angrier and angrier at Sabine for being friends with you four."

"Severus is a monster and a fool for treating you and Sabine for how he treated you." Remus said kindly, nudging Lily and giving her a friendly smile. Lily sighed and shrugged.

"I dunno, Remus." She said as she filled up a plate. "I really don't know how everything could have crumbled so quickly. To top it all off, and I'll kill you if you say anything, but I think I'm slowly coming to realize that James isn't a deplorable little twat. He's just an immature, misguided twat."

"He has his moments…" Remus shrugged.

Sirius, James and Peter ducked into the alley next to Puddifoots. Sirius craned his head around, scowling when he heard Sabine's cackle-like laughter as she and Liam joked their way down the street. He pulled out his wand and aimed it carefully at Liam.

"What are you going to do?" James asked cautiously.

"I'm going to Flipendo that slick little weasel right into the dirt and I'm going to KEEP doing it every time he tries to get up. Then, I'm going to run away so Sabine can't see me." He said, as though it was perfectly reasonable. Sirius looked back to notice James was pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing and Peter was giving him two thumbs up. He turned back around and carefully aimed, again. "Flipendo!" he said as quietly as he could.

Sirius's spell struck Sabine, narrowly missing its target, and she tightened her grip on Liam's hand, pulling him down with her. She landed, hard, on the ground, skidding a bit, and Liam landed on top of her. He held himself above her for a moment and slowly smiled. Both of them blushed.

Sirius spun on his heel and stomped further down the alley. James cringed as he watched Liam help Sabine up.

"It seems someone let that one get away from them a bit." He chuckled. "Are you all right, love?" He asked.

Sabine continued brushing herself off and sighed. She couldn't help but chuckle. "It seems I'm always meeting boys by having them fall right onto me."

Liam chuckled and eased closer, retaking her hand. "I won't say that I minded." He flirted. Sabine gave him a look of warning with a light smile. "Right, too forward. My apologies."

"Shall we find a nice place to sit and chat before an errant Bat-Bogey makes its way to my face?" She asked, brushing herself off and nodding towards Madame Rosmerta's. Liam nodded, taking her hand again. They took a table in the back and Liam ordered butterbeers for both of them. Sabine made to remove money from her pocket but Liam waved it away.

"It's on me. I did land on you, after all. To top that off, I made an arse of myself about it." He smiled sheepishly. Sabine mentally debated for a moment then, despite feeling a little rude for doing so, conceded and let him pay.

"You're a teenage boy. That is reason enough to be forgiven." She smirked. Liam beamed in response.

"I really am sorry about you and Sirius." He said seriously, after a moment's pause. Sabine felt that familiar pang in her chest and she looked down at her butterbeer. "I don't want to dwell on it but I do feel sorry. I know it must-"

"Liam?" Sabine interrupted him. He stopped and quickly closed his mouth when he saw the look in her eyes. "I would much rather not talk about him, if that's all right with you."

"I'm sorry." Liam frowned. "It might make you feel better to get things off of your chest, though. I'm here for you if you do decide that you want to talk about it."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Sabine blurted. Liam paused for a moment before looking down at his fidgeting hands. Sabine suspected that she was about to hear the most honest response she would have heard, yet, from Liam.

"You don't really have anyone to talk to, do you?" Liam asked rhetorically. He looked up and locked eyes with her. "Believe it or not, I know how that feels."

"How could you possibly know how that feels?" Sabine snapped. "Liam, you're gorgeous, you're nice to everyone, and everyone loves you. I've even seen you and some Slytherins getting on well together." She snorted. "About the only reasonable person, and in this case the word 'reasonable' may not eve apply, that I have seen you butt heads with is Sirius. The only reason you two don't get along is because of some weird rivalry the two of you have."

"Okay, then, Sabine," Liam started, "who would you say is my best friend?"

Sabine opened her mouth to speak but promptly closed it again. Liam raised his eyebrow, challenging her for an answer. She furrowed her brows. "You're a Weasley! You have built-in best friends!" She finally snapped, throwing her arms up.

Liam laughed easily. "You're right. I have a close family. I can talk to my family about everything. I'm sure you're much the same?"

Sabine frowned at this. She couldn't talk to her parents about a thing. Of course, she was close to her brother. Very close, in fact. But ever since she'd come to Hogwarts, they'd drifted apart. Even spending holidays together hadn't kept them as close as they had been when they were children. She was growing up in a world completely different than his and so they had less to talk about. Now that she'd broken up with Sirius and told off her only friends, she was alone. "I'm sorry." She said softly.

"There's no need to apologize." Liam smiled a little sadly. "People always assume that the people that seem happiest often actually are."

Sabine shrugged her agreement and took a long drink of butterbeer, hoping that if she let things fall into silence that they wouldn't steer towards Sirius again. She knew that it was false hope because Liam was far too sharp and far too clever to be thrown so easily. He seemed to be staring at her, waiting for her to proceed at her own comfort. She sighed in defeat. "You're not going to let anything go, are you?"

"No, and it's good that you learn that about me quickly." Liam grinned, leaning close. His smile softened. "Go on, then. What happened with Black?"

"Will you promise to reserve judgment, at least, until I've finished?" She asked wearily. Liam nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm an idiot, basically. It really hurt me the way Lily and Severus treated me and I suppose I bottled all of that up." Sabine groaned and rubbed her eyes. "Do I have to keep talking about this?"

"Either that or I'll lean across the table and kiss you." Liam warned flirtatiously. Sabine's eyes widened and she nearly choked on her breath.

She stammered for a moment before continuing. "Well, Severus was being tortured, as usual, by those idiots. Sirius and I heard them and ran over. I tried to stop James from making Severus hover upside-down and Lily and I exchanged a few words. Then, James and Sirius got into a little fight, causing the charm to break and Severus to hit the ground pretty hard. Either that knocked the sense completely out of his head or it knocked out the part of his evil little brain that keeps him from saying the things in his head that don't need to be said." She sighed and rolled her eyes against the tears that were beginning to well up. "I should have been kind to her. That was lesson enough, probably, for how she treated me. More than, because she loved him so much. But I'm an arse and I rubbed her face in it."

"So, why don't you just apologize?" Liam asked gently.

"Would you forgive me?" Sabine snorted. Liam made to speak but was interrupted. "Be honest. If someone that you thought was your best friend kicked you while you were down, would you forgive them? Especially when they seemed to have lose their mind completely and abandoned all of their friends because they defended you."

Liam sighed. "I'm not really the best person to ask. Remember, I don't have any real friends."

Sabine let her head fall to the table with a soft thump. "I don't suppose you can say that anymore because whether you like it or not, now that you know so much about me, you're stuck with me." Her muffled voice made Liam chuckle.

"Well, I suppose I could finally allow a best friend in my life." He said in feigned thought.

"Don't push it. I said close friend." Sabine said, still never raising her head from the table. Liam rolled his eyes and kicked her under the table. She looked up at him, obviously surprised.

"You could, at least, pretend that I'm more interesting than a table." Liam joked. Sabine rolled her eyes and finished her butterbeer. Liam did the same and stood. "Shall we? I'd like to get some sweets before we have to head back." He took her hand and led her out.

* * *

_Well, I do hope that you enjoyed that. We're really getting to know Sabine, aren't we? She's a weird little OC. Well, this little Nerdfighter is going to go write a bit more. Thanks so, so, so very much for reading, guys!_


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